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THE UNIVERSITY

OF ILLINOIS

LIBIiARY

DIO

V. /7

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INDIANS OF TECPAN, GUATEJL\LA.

THE EARTH AND ITS INHABITANTS

THE

UNIVERSAL GEOGRAPHY

Bv ELISEE RECLUS

EDITED

By a. H. KEANE, B.A.

MEMBER OF COUNCIL, AN'THROP. INSTIIUTE; COR. MEMB. ITALIAN AND WASHINGTON ANTHROP. SOC, ETC.

VOL. XVII.

MEXICO, CENTRAL AMERICA, WEST INDIES

ILLUSTRATED BY NUMEROUS ENGRAVINGS AND MAPS

LONDON
J. S. VIRTUE & CO., LmiTEU, 294, CITY ROAD 6

LONnON :

rRINTFD MV J. S. VJRTt'K ANH CO., I.IMITFI).
CIIY ROAD.

CONTENTS.

I. GEyEBAT, Slkvky

Geological Changes, p. 2. Prehistoric Migrations, p. 3.
Political Changes, p. 6. Aborigines and Xegroes, p. 8.
p. 9. The Isthmian Begion, p. 12.

Gradual Settlement, p. 4.
Spaniards and Mestizoes,

PAGS

1-13

II. Mexico
1

14—190

Central Contidcratioiit, p. 14. Progress of Discovery, p. 15.

2. Mexim Proper, Xorsh of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, p. 20. Mountains and Volcanoes,
p. 20. Rivers and Lakes, p. 36. Climate, p. 4S. Flora, p. 53. Fanna, p. b6.
Inhabitants, p. 59. Ijower California, p. 93. Sonora — Sinaloa, p. 95. Chihuahua
— Durango, p. 100. North-Eastern States : Coahuila — Nuevo Leon — Tamaulipas,
p. 102. Inland States: Zacatecas — Aguascalientes — San Luis Potosi, p. 106.
Guanajuato— Jalisco and Tepic — Colima — Michoacan, p. 109. Queretaro — Hidalgo
— Mexico— Federal District, p. il5. Vera Cruz, p. 129. Morelos — Guerrero—
Oaxaca, p. 135.

3. Eatt Mexico, p. 142. Chiapas — Tabasco— Campeachy — Yucatan, p. 142. Physical
Features, p. 143. Rivers, p. 146. Climate — Flora — Fauna, p. 153. Inhabitants,
p. 154. Topography, p. 161.

4. EeoncFinie and Soeial Condition of Mexico, p. 170.

5. Government and Administration, 187.

III. BETnsH Ho>"di:bas (Belize) 191-

The Cockscomb Mountains, p. 193. Rivers, p. 194. The Seaboard, p. 195. Climate
— Flora — Fauna, p. 197. Topography, p. 197. Adniinistrarion, p. 200.

200

IV. Cen-tbai, .Avfrtca : GuAiEstALi, Ho>"BUBAS, Saivadob. XicAEAGri, CosTi Rica .

1. General Surrey, p. 201.

2. Guatemala, p. 206. Physical Features, p. 207. Rivers and Lakes, p. 213. Climate
— Flora — Fauna, p. 217. Inhabitants, p. 218. Topography, p. 225. Material
Condition of Guatemala, p. 238.

3. San Sahador, p. 244. Physical Features, p. 244. Rivers, p. 249. Climate— Flora
— Fanna, p. 250. Inhabitants, p 250. Topography, p. 251. Economic Condition
of Salvador, p. 254.

4. Honduras, p. 255. Physical Features, p. 256. Rivers— Islands — Inlets, p. 258.
Climate — Flora— Fauna, p. 260. Inhabitants, p. 261. Topography, p. 263,
Economic Condition of Honduras, p. 266.

2ul— 311

j^ CONTENTS.

PAOB
CHAP.

5. NicarayiM, p. 270. Physical Features, p. 271. Elvers and L.akes, p. 275. Climate
—Flora— Fauna, p. 280. IiiLabitants, p. 281. Topography, p. 284. Economic
Condition of Nicaragua, p. 289. The Nicaragua Canal, p. 290. Administration,
p. 292.

6. Costa Rica, p. 293. Physical Features, p. 296. Rivers, p. 300. Climate— Flora-
Fauna, p. 301. Inhabitants, p. 303. Topography, p. 30G. Economic Condition of
Costa Rica, p. 308.

V. Panama ■ 312—337

Physical Features, p. 312. Rivers— Bays — Islands, p. 314. Climate, p. 319. Flora
—Fauna, p. 320. Inhabitants, p. 321. Topography, p. 323. The Panama Canal,
p. 329. Administration, p. 337.

VI. The Abierican Meditekeanean : Gulp of Mexico and Caeibbeant Sea . . . 338 — 353
Progress of Exploration— Soundings, p. 338. Catchment Basins, p. 341. Marine
Currents, p. 343. Atmospheric Currents, p. 345. Temperature- Marine Flora and
Fauna, p. 34S. Land Flora and Fauna, p. 349. Inhabitants, p. 350.

VII. Ctjba 354—381

Physical Features, p. 355. Rivers, p. 359. Reefs and Cays, p. 300. Climate—
Flora— Faima, p. 364. Inhabitants, p. 366. Topography, p. 370. Economic Con-
dition of Cuba, p. 379.

VIII. Jamaica 382—395

Physical Features, p. 383. Rivers— CUmate—Flora—Fauna, p. 384. Inhabitants,
p. 385. Topography, p. 392. Administration, p. 394.

IX. San Dominoo : Haiti and the Dominican Republic 396—422

1. General Survey, p. 396. Physical Features, p. 397. Rivers— Lakes — Reefs, p. 400.
Climate — Flora— Fauna, p. 403. Inhabitants, p. 404.

2. RepulUc of Haiti, p. 410.

3. San Domiiiffo, p. 418.

X. Pueeto Rico 423—429

Physical Features, p. 423. Inhabitants, p. 424. Topography, p. 425. Economic
Condition, p. 428.

XI. ViEoiN Islands and Santa Cruz 430 — 436

St. Thomas, p. 430. St. John, p. 433. Santa Cruz, p. 433. Tortola— Virgin
Gorda — Anegada, p. 436.

XII. The Bahamas 437—448

XIII. The Beemtoas 449—454

XIV. The Lessee Antilles 455 — 4S6

Sombrero— The Dogs— Anguila — St. Martin, p. 463. St. Bartholomew, p. 464.
Barbuda, p. 465. Antigua, p. 465. Saba and St. Eustatius, p. 467. St. Christopher
and Nevis, p. 468. Moutserrat, p. 470. Guadeloupe, p. 471. Dominica, p. 475.
Martinique, p. 476. St. Lucia, p. 479. St. Vincent, p 480. Grenada and the
Grenadines, p. 483. Barbados, p. 485.

Appendix ............... 487

LIST OF ILLUSTEATIONS

FIG. PAGE

94. Native Populations of Guatemala . . 224

95. The Altos Kegrion 226

96. Solola and Lake Atitlan .... 229

97. SnccessiTe Displacements of Guatemala 231
9S. Thickly-Inhabited Region of Guatemala . 233
99. Lake Peten 236

100. Density of the Population in Guatemala . 237

101. Chief Products of Guatemala . . .239

102. GcATESLsxis AjxiLDES, Altos Region . 241

103. Political Divisions of Guatemala . . 243

104. ArSOL AT AHTTiCHAPAir .... 245
10.5. Volcanoes of West Salvador . . . 246

106. Lake Ilopango 247

107. Volcanoes of East Salvador . . 248

105. San Salvador and its Environs .251
109. La Libkktad, Poet of San Salvadoe . 253
XIO. Density of the Population of Salvador . 254

111. Interoceanic Waterparting, Honduras . 256

112. Bay Islands 259

113. Puerto Cortes and Lake Alvarado . 264

1 14. Fouseca Bay 267

115. Comparative Debts of Various States . 268

116. Debt per Head of Population in Various

Countries 269

117. Territory claimed at Various Times by

Great Britain . ... 270
US. MosTBACHO Volcano .isd Shores of T.tin;

XlCAEAGUA 273

119. Isthmus of Rivas 275

120. The Kiearagua Waterparting . . . 276

121. ilarrabios Range and Lake Managua . 278

122. Population of Honduras and Nicaragua . 282

123. Density of the Popidation of Honduras

and Nicaragua 2S5

124. San Juan del Norte before the Construc-

tion of the Pier 288

12-5. Projected Interoceanic Canals across Nica-
ragua 290

126. Lower San Juan Canal . . . .291

127. Political Divisions of Nicaragua . . 292

128. Gulf of Columbus 294

129. On-e of the Thebe Ceatees or Poas . 295

130. SusDcrr of Mount Ieazu . . . 297

131. Plateau and Volcanoes of Costa Rica . 298
132 Gulf of Nicova 299

133. Gulf of DulJe 301

134. GrATTJSo Indian 304

135. YoirxQ Tir>M>vr»c; Indians . . . 305

136. Puerto Limon . ..... 308

137. Mill foe Huskino Coffee . . 309

138. Highways of Communication in Costa

Rica 310

139. Administrative Divisions of Costa Rica . 311

140. Course of the River Chagrcs . . .314

141. Gulf of San Miguel. . . . . 315

142. GuU of San Bias 317

143. Caledonia Bay 318

144. Gulf of Panama 319

145. Isthmus of Chiriqui .... 322

146. Panama . 324

147. Paxama — View taken- feom Mount

AxcoN 325

148. Colon 326

149. The "Mystery of the Strait ' at the

Beginning of the Sixteenth Century . 328

150. Docks and Course of the Panama Canal . 329

151. Sill of the Lock Canal . . . .330

152. Projected Artificial Lakes on the Panama

Divide 332

153. Projected Cuttings across the Isthmus of

Panama and Darien .... 333

154. Projected Canal between L'raba and San

Miguel Bays 334

155. Cupica Bay 335

156. The Raspadura Divide . . . .336

157. Gulf of Mexico 339

158. Caribbean Sea 340

159. The Puerto Rico Abyss . . . .341

160. Slopes draining to the American Medi-

terranean ...... 342

161. Main Currents of the American Medi-

terranean ...... 344

162. Deep-Sea Temperatures in the Atlantic

and West India Waters . . .346

163. Deposits on the Bed of the Atlantic and

West India Waters . . . .347

164. Aneg ad I .-ind the Horseshoe Reef . . 348

165. Snake - Catchee and Chaecoal Giel,

Maeti.mque 351

16G. Preponderance of the White and Black

Races in the West Indies . . 352

167. La Coube (Cuba) and the Mer de LentiUe 355
16S. Western Division of Cuba . . 356

169. Eastern Division of Cuba . . 357

170. Cape S;in Antonio and Corrientes Bay . 361

171. Jardinillos 362

172. Isle of Pines 363

173. Plantation of Pineapples . . . 365

174. Political Divisions of Cuba before the

Spauisb Conquest .... 368

175. ChobeebaTower ("Bvccaneers' Foef"),

at the Mouth OP the Almendakes 371

176. C^ban Seaports West of Havana . 373

177. Matanzas 374

178. Trinidad and its Harbours 375

179. Central Isthmus of Cuba . .376

180. Santiago de Cuba 37b

181. Port of Guantanamo .... 379

182. Railways of Cuba 381

183. Hilly Region in West Jamaica . 383

184. View taken at the Newcastle Saxa-

TOEmi, Jaslaica 389

185. District of Morant, Jamaica . . 391

186. Kingston and Port Royal . . . 392

187. Chief Towns of Jamaica . . .394

188. Chain of the Cayman Islands . . 395

189. Monte- Crisri Range and Vega Plain . 39S

190. View taeex feusi the Mole St. Nico-

las Pextn-stla, Haiti .... 399

191. Ozama and Bmjuelas Basins . .401

192. Isthmus of the Lakes, San Domingo . 402

193. Chief Slave-Trade Routes . . .406

194. Scene of the War of Independence . . 408

195. Disputed Territory between Haiti and

San Domingo 409

196. St. Nicolas PeniiLSula • . . .411

LIST or ILLUbTEATlONS.

no.

197. Gulf of Port-au-Prince

198. South-West Peninsula of Haiti

199. Lcs Cayes Bay
20J. Geoup of Haiitass

201. .iVzua and Ocoa Bay

202. Santo Domingo

203. Samana Bay .

204. Puerto Rico .

205. San Juan Buutista, Puerto Rico

206. South-west Comer of Puerto Ric-.

207. St. Thomas I»Iand .

208. St. Thomas Harbour

209. Virgin Island ....

210. Santa Cruz ....

211. View tax ex in Santa Cbuz Island

212. Bemini Island and Banks

213. Tongue of the Oteau

rACB

Flu.

412

214

413

215

414

210

417

217

419

420

218

4>1

219

424

220

426

221

427

222

431

223.

432

224

433

225.

434

226.

435

438

227.

441

PAGE

Nassau ....... 445

TVatling Lslund 446

The Bermudas . . . .451

View taken from Gibb's Hill, Bf.E-

MLDAS ...... 453

St. Kitts 456

A JIaktixique Ckeole Woman . 461

St. Martin ...... 464

St. John's Harbour, Antigua . . . 466

St. Eustatiu.s ...... 467

St. Kitts— View taken fkom Netis . 469

Montserrat 471

Martinique ...... 477

Lines of Navigation and Submarine Cables

in the West Indies .... 478
Geneeal View of Casteies, St. Ll-cia

Island . .... 430

LIST OF TLLUSTPvATIONS.

MAPS PRINTED' IN COLOURS.

Mexico and Central America .

Mexico and its Valley

West Indies ....

PAGE

16
118
344

Havana ....
The Guadaloupe Aroliipelago

372
472

PLATES.

Indians of Tecpan, Guatemala . Frontispiece

Isthmus of Panama — View taken from the

Cidebra .... To face page 12
Popocatepetl — View taken from the Thimecas

Rancho ... .... 27

Indian Village — View taken at the Huexooulco .

Pueblo, Province of Mexico . . .75
Panoramic View of Guanajuato . . .110

Street View in Morelia 115

City of Tida — General View . . . .117

General View of Mexico 120

The Chapidtepec Cypresses .... 123
Puebla — View taken from tlie South . .126
Vera Cruz and Fort of St. John d'Ulua . .133
Cenote of Valladolid, Yucat-.m . . . ISl

Ruins of U.xmal — The Governor's Palace . 167

The Metlac Viaduct between Cordoba and

Orizaba, on the Mexico-Vera Cruz ll:iilway 184
Belize — View taken from the Harbour . .108
View taken on Lake Atitlan . . . .214
Escuintla — General View .... 233

Indian Workwomen of the Hot Lands on the

Pacific Slope 238

Ilopango Volcano . . . To face page 246

Honduras Scenery ...... 2G0

Tegucigalpa — View taken from La Concepcion 266

Ceiba 280

Leon — View taken in the Main Thorouglifare . 284

Port Limou and Uvas Island .... 307

Panama Scenery — the Rio Chagres at Matachiu 314

Indian Settlements, Islands of San Bias Bay . 316

The Panama Canal — View taken at San Pablo 330

General View of Havana taken from Casablanca 370
General View of Matanzas . . . .373

General View of Santiago, Cuba . . . 377
Turtle Island — View taken at the Moutli of the

Tliree Rivers . . . . . .405

General View of Port-au-Prince . . .412
General View of San Juan Bautista, Puerto

Rico 425

General View of Hopetown, Abaoo Island . 444
West Indian Scenery — View taken in the

Saintes Islands ..... 473

View of Basse-Terre, Guadelupe . . 474

General View of Fortde-France, Martinique . 477

Kingston, St. Vincent Island .... 48i

LIST OF ILLUSTfiATIONS.

LIST OF ILLUSTEATIONS.

the

10.
11.

12.
13.
11.
Id.
16.

17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
22.
2.'?.

24.

25.
26.
27.
28.
29.

30.
31.
32.
33.
34.
35.
36.
37.
33.
39.
40.
41.
42.
43.
44.
45.
46.

Central American Isthmuses and Inland

Seas

citlaltepetel — view taijen feom near

Oeizaba .....
Political States of Central America
Mexico before the Annexation to

United States ....
Predominant Races in Central America
Canals and Routes across the Isthmuses
First Mexican Itineraries, 1517 to 1550
Chief Positions scientifically determined in

Mexico
Regions studied by the Officers of the

French Expedition
Relief of Mexico
Jonillo, according to Himiboldt
Ori^iaba Peak ....
Volcanoes of Mexico
IgTieous Regions and Volcanoes of Mexico
Convergence of the two Sierra Madres
Various Altitudes of the Mexican Momi'

tains and Towns ....
Tamaulipas Coast Lagoons
Coalzacoalcos Bar ....
The Regla Falls ....
Lake Chapala .....
Colorado Estuary ....
Closed Basins of Me.xico
Area of the Mexican Lakes at Various

Periods
Vertical Disposition of the Mexican

Climates

Isothermals of Mexico modified by Altitude
Vegetable Zones in Mexico
Extent of the Aztec Conquests .
Aetlpiolal Pteamtd op Cholula
Saceed Stone op Tizoc, in the Museum

OF Mexico . . : . .
First Conquests of Cortes .
Port of Siguantaneo ....
Scene of the War of Independence .
Chief Native Populations in Mexico .
Watee-Caeeiee and Toetiilas Woman
Chief Native-Races in Mexico
Prevailing Diseases in Mexico
La Paz
Guaymas .
Mazatlan .

Cathedeal of Chihuahua
Tampieo .
Zacatecas .

San Luis Potosi- Goveenment
San Bias .
Manzanillo
Ancient Mexico

Palace

11
12
16

19
21
26
30
32
33
34

35
37
38
39

42
43
44

105

107

109

112

92.

114

93.

118

FIO.

47.
48.
49.
50
51.
52.
53.
54.
55.
56.
57.
58.
59.
6U.
61.
62.
63.

Cathedeal of Mexico

Mexico and its Eu™onments .

Tlalpam and Lake Xochimilco .

Indian Maeket-Gaedenee's Canoe .

Puebla in 1862

Orizaba ......

Successive Displacements of Vera Cruz

From Vera Cruz to Anton Lizardo .

Harbour Works in Progress at Vera Cruz

Acapulco ......

Chief Ruins of Central Mexico .

Isthmus of Tehuantepec .

Salina Cruz, the new Port of Tehuantepec,

Minatitlan, Northern Port of Tehuantep.

Bank of Yucatan ....

Alacran Reef .....

The Usumacinta — View taken at the
Paso Talchilan, on the Guatemalan
Frontiee .....

Mouths of the Grijalva and Usumacinta

Terminos Lagoon ....

The Rio of Yucatan ....

Maya Youths .....

Chief Ruins of Yucatan

Ruins in the Lacandon and Tzendal Coun
tries ......

Merida and North-West Yucatan

Density of the Population in Mexico .

PuLauEEO

Maouet Plantations, San Feauoisquito
DisTEicT, NEAE Mexico

Chief Agricultural Produce in Mexico

The Worid's Yield of Silver .

The World's Y'ield of the Precious Metals

Y'ield of Gold and Silver in Various Coun-
tries since 1492 .

Chief Mineral Regions of Mexico

The Boca del Moute Ascent

Mexican Railway Systems in 1890 .

Political Dirisions of Mexico

British Hondxiras ....

Parallelism of the Old and Recent Water^
courses .....

Belize and the Cockscomb Mountains

Domains of British Honduius .

Old Straits in Central America .

Political Divisions of Central America

Trend of the Guatemalan R mges

Chain of the Fuego Volcano

Antigua : Ruins op Cheistchukch, Agua
Volcano in the Backgk und

Pacaya Volcano ....

Golfo Dulce and the Lower Motagua

Landscape in South Guatem.ila — Bamboo
JVNQLE

PAOB

119
122
124
125
128
131
132
133
134
136
138
139
140
141
144
145

147
149
151
152
157
159

163
165

171
173

175
176
178
179

180
181
184
185
188
192

196
198
199
2(12
203
207
209

211
212

216

219

THE UNIVERSAL GEOGRAPHY.

MEXICO, CENTRAL AMERICA, WEST INDIES.

CHAPTER I.

GENERAL SUE^^:Y.

HE insular and peninsular regions which are watered by the Gulf
of Mexico and Caribbean Sea form with the Mexican triangle a
perfectly distinct section of the New "World. Tender the latitude
of the tropic of Cancer, which traverses the Mexican plateau and
touches the extremity of the peninsxila of Lower California, the
contiaent has still a width of 550 miles, or about a tenth part of the distance
between the two oceans towards the middle of Xorth America.

But south of that line the mainland tapers and expands successively, while
developing coastlines parallel with the escarpments of the plateau. Between
Mexico proper and Chiapas occm's a first contraction at the isthmus of Tehuan-
tepec ; this is followed towards the south-east by other shrinkings and expansions,
terminating in the slender neck of land between the Gulfs of Panama and Darien,
which merges in the South American continent.

The eastern chain of the American Archipelago, comprising the Bahamas and
Lesser Antilles, forms a cordon over 1,800 miles long, which sweeps round from
the north-west to the south-east in a serpentine curve roughly parallel with that
of Mexico and Central America. This vast outer rampart, of coralline formation
in the Bahamas, of volcanic origin in the Antilles, encloses the so-called " Medi-
terranean" of the I^Tew "World, which, like the Mediterranean of the eastern
hemisphere, is divided into secondary basins, but which in other respects presents
little resemblance to that great inland sea.

VOL. XVII. B

2 MEXICO, CENTEAL AMEEICA, "WEST INDIES.

The northernmost of these basins, that is, the Gulf of JSIexico, which develops
an immense oval contour line between the peninsulas of Florida and Yucatan, is
limited southwards by the long island of Cuba, and communicates with the neigh-
bouring waters only through two passages with an average breadth of 120 miles.
The southern basin, that is, the Caribbean Sea, is of less regular form, presenting
between the Lesser Antilles and the Mosquito Coast a broad open expanse, which
is again subdivided towards the north-west by two almost completely submerged
ridges, indicated here and there by reefs and sandbanks. On one of these ridges
stands the Grand Cayman Chain, while the other connects the Tiburon peninsula
in Haiti through Jamaica with Cape Gracias a Dios. Thus the West Indies are
attached to Central America by three transverse hills which might be called those
of Cuba, of Cayman and Jamaica ; all three begin at the chain of islands sweeping
round from Grenada and the Grenadines to Puerto Rico, almost presenting the
appearance of being three branches thrown off from a single stem.

All these lines of islands and peninsulas, which are interconnected in various
directions between the northern and southern continents, give evidence of cosmic
forces acting over vast expanses of the terrestrial crust. Nevertheless their
somewhat symmetrical arrangement in intersecting curves is no proof that the
upheaved lands were at any time continuous, or that the now partly submerged
ridges themselves are the remains of isthmuses formerly stretching from continent
to continent. On the contrary numerous indications drawn from the distribution
of the animal and vegetable species seem to justify naturalists in concluding that
certain contiguous islands have never formed continuous land during the geological
record. Cases in point are the Bahamas and the Antilles, which by their natural
history are more intimately connected with the distant Central America than with
Georgia and the Carolinas. In the same way Florida belongs rather to the "West
Indies than to the mainland of which it now forms part, while the Bermudas, lost
amid the Atlantic waters, are connected with the Antilles by the Gulf Stream.

The American Mediterranean lands, although lying almost entirely within the
tropics, are perfectly accessible to man for all purposes of permanent settlement.
In this respect they present an absolute contrast with the vast regions of Africa
situated imder the same latitude. In the Old "World the desert, which begins
with the Sahara, and which is continued across Egypt, Arabia, Persia, Turkestan,
and Mongolia, comprises millions of square miles, whereas in Central America
arid spaces are of limited extent, and in fact occupy that part of Mexico which
lies north of the tropic of Cancer. Thanks to the humidity of the atmosphere
and the moderating action of the marine waters, tropical America is almost every-
where clothed with a rich vegetation. In some places are developed almost
impenetrable forests forming a continuous mass of dense verdure, and wherever
clearings are effected, economic crops may be raised in superabundance.

The white race has even succeeded in perpetuating itself in the Antilles,
notably in Cuba and Puerto Rico, adapting itself to the climate sufficiently to
cultivate the land and engage in industrial pursuits.

In Mexico and in Central America the mean elevation of the plateaux, offering

GEXEEAJ. SUETEY.

a climate analogous to that of temperate Europe, has enabled Spanish and other
immigrants to occupy the land. Flourishing European colonies have been
founded on these uplands, ■where they have acquired sufficient influence to impart
their usages, language and culture to the great mass of the aboriginal populations.
Within 100 miles of the coast Citlaltepetel, the "Star Mountain," which passing
seafarers beheld glittering at sunset and sunrise like a flaming beacon above the
arid and swampy plains of the seaboard, seemed to invite them to scale the inter-
vening heights and take possession of the breezy inland tablelands. They under-
stood the language of nature which attracted them to these uplands, where were
afterwards founded Orizaba, Cordoba, and other flourishing cities of " Xew Spain."

Kg. 1.— Central Ameeicas Isthmuses axd Inlasb Seas. •

Scale 1 : t0,0O>,0O0.

0 to 500
FaUioms.

Depths.

BOO to 2,000
Fathoms.

2,000 Fathoms
and upwards.

— 620Maes.

"Wliile physically distinct from the continental masses of north and south,
Central America itself is divided into secondary regions presenting such differ-
ences that the inhabitants, grouped in separate tribes and nations, remained
formerly almost completely isolated. Communications were rare and difficult, and
no ethnical cohesion had been developed amongst these isolated elements. Before
the conquest few migrations or interminglings took place, except in the Mexican
regions, which lay broadly open in the north towards the plains of Texas, the pla-
teaux and intermediate valleys of the Rocky Mountains and the CaKfornian slope.

In the Mexican legends or annals are commemorated the peaceful or conquering
movements of the populations following in successive waves of migration from

4 MEXICO, CENTEAL AMERICA, WEST INDIES.

nortt to south, from the banks of the Colorado and Rio Bravo to the vallej's of
the Sierra Madre, the Anahuac tablelands and southern isthmuses. But the same
records speak of the formidable obstacles encountered by those peoples, obstacles
by which they were often arrested for decades and even centuries, and at times
compelled to retrace their steps to their original homes. To the difEculties created
by the resisting tribes were added those of the rough routes over the crests of
transverse ranges, and the changes of climate on their passage through the forests,
or on the descent towards the hot regions of the seaboard and isthmuses. Some
of those northern invaders were arrested in the various depressions of the Mexican
plateaux; others continued their march as far as Tehuantepec and Guatemala ; while
others penetrated southwards to the plains of Salvador and the Nicaragua volcanoes.

There can be no doubt that at various epochs other hordes from the north
pushed even still farther south. But no documents dating from the American
mediteval period make any mention of such migrations on the mainland. In fact
in the narrow neck of land some 600 miles long, which bends round to the north-
west corner of the state of Columbia, the natural obstacles become almost insur-
mountable. Here nothing could be attempted except slow maritime expeditions
continued from age to age ; but of such migrations all memory has perished.
The movements of the native populatioas must have been prevented or indefinitely
arrested by the rugged highlands stretching from sea to sea, by the impenetrable
tangle of tropical forests, the sudden freshets caused by tremendous downpours,
or the flooded tracts skirting the banks of the Atrato.

The numerous islands of all sizes stretching in chains between the basins of
the American Mediterranean, or along the borders of the Atlantic, were destined
by their very isolation to become the homes of communities either differing in
origin or else slowly differentiated by long seclusion. During the course of
centuries their common descent was necessarily forgotten even by kindred sea-
faring peoples, whose knowledge of navigation was rudimentary, although some
of their craft hoisted sails and were large enough to carry as many as fifty Indians.
The great diversity of languages formerly spoken in the Antilles and still current
in Mexico and the isthmuses is sufficient evidence of long isolation and dispersion
in the fragmentary woi-ld lying between the northern and southern continents.

For this region a certain unity, at least in a political sense, seemed to be
prepared by the discovery of the archipelagoes and adjacent mainland at the end
of the fifteenth and beginning of the sixteenth century. When they landed on
this new territory the Spaniards acquired definite possession of the islands and
isthmuses, if not, as they supposed, for the dynasty of Charles V., at all events
as an inheritance of the Old World. The Antilles and Mexico never faded from
the memory of Europeans, as had been the fate of the earlier Norse discoveries
in Greenland, Helluland and Vineland.

In virtue of Pope Alexander VI.'s Bull awarding to the Castilians and Portu-
guese all present and prospective discoveries, all those white settlers had to become
Spanish subjects. The vast continental amphitheatre sweeping round the double
basin of the inland sea, as well as its numerous chains of islands, was consequently

GENEEAL SURVEY. 5

at first comprised ^vitliin the Spanish domain. But the political unity of these lands
was purely official, and often little more than nominal ; in many places the Conquis-
tadores never even set foot, and down to the present time certain territories supposed
to be within their jurisdiction have scarcely even been visited by the explorer.

Xor were the Spaniards strong enough to retain political possession of all the
regions discovered by their forefathers. The treasures which were brought to

Fig. 2. — ClTLALTEPETEL. — TiEW TAKEN FEOII >.t:aE OsIZABA.

Europe by the first conquerors and which were multiplied a hundredfold in the
popular imagination, could not fail to excite the cupidity of adventurers from other
nations. Thus it happened that, either with the consent of their respective sove-
reigns, who furnished them with letters of marque, or else as roving pirates recognis-
ing no authority, daring mariners swarmed on all the seas of the Spanish Main,
capturing their vessels, wasting their plantations, or even seizing the islands them-
selves after massacrins: the first settlers. Some of the famous navigators of the

6 MEXICO, CENTEAl AMEEICA, WEST INDIES.

sisteentli and seventeenth centuries were mere corsairs, scouring the high seas
and occupying islets, such as Tortuga at the north-west angle of Haiti. These
islands became the undisputed possessions of the buccaneers, as they were called,
from the Carib word boucan, smoked fish or flesh, doubtless in allusion to their
ordinary fare. With the exception of Portugal, which already possessed the vast
territory of Brazil besides the East Indies, all the European powers were anxious
to secure a portion of the CastHian world either by conquest, purchase or treaty.

Of her original American possessions, Spain now retains nothing but the two
Islands of Cuba, the pearl of the Antilles, and Puerto Rico. All the rest has
been forcibly wrested from her, and even her hold on these has often been impe-
rilled by revolts or foreign wars.

England, an heretical nation in whose eyes the Papal Bull had no value.

Fig. 3. — Political States of Centeal America.
Scale 1 : 62,000,000.

Independent
Republics.

E. Spanish. A. Enilish. F. French.
H. Dutch. D. Danish.

, 1,240 Miles.

became the mistress of tbe large island of Jamaica, of all the Bahamas, the Ber-
mudas and most of the Lesser Antilles, beside a small district of the mainland on
the south-east coast of Yucatan. To the share of France, Holland, and Den-
mark have fallen some of the Lesser Antilles, and even Sweden till lately held
the islet of St. Bartholomew. All were anxious to have their sugar and coffee
plantations, and an independent insular depot for their colonial produce.

When the American Republic was controlled in its foreign policy by the southern
slave party, the Washington Government made repeated attempts to increase its
territory by the acquisition of Cuba, most valuable as well as largest of all the
Antilles, It also sought to establish a large naval station at the St. Domingan

GENERAL SmVEY. 7

port of Samana, one of the most important strategical harbours in tropical America.
Bat the opposition of the northern states, and to some extent that of the European
powers, prevented the realisation of their projects, which had for primary aim the
political supremacy of the slave-holding landowners. The only West Indian land
belonging de facto, if not to the States, at least to an American trading company
is Navaza (J^avassa), a rock covered with a deposit of guano, off the west coast of
Haiti. As soon as the deposit is exhausted the Tiseless islet will be abandoned as
several others have already been by the same company.

On the mainland the aspirations of the all-powerful republic have been more
abundantly satisfied than in the Antilles, and more than half of the territory
formerly belonging to !New Spain, that is to say, Texas, California, New ilexico
and Arizona, henceforth forms an integral portion of the northern confederacy.
Kegotiations have also been entered into for the purchase of the right of free
transit, in other words, of real sovereignty in the isthmus of Tehuantepec.

Moreover, some filibustering expeditions, not officially sanctioned, but encour-
aged in every way by irresponsible agents, were undertaken in the Central American
republics, at the time when the rush was made from Xew York and the Xew
England states to the Californian " Eldorado." In virtue of the same law by which
riverain populations gravitate towards the mouths of the streams on which they
dwell, the Americans claimed as belonging to them by " manifest destiny " the
shortest route which at that period connected their settlements on both oceanic
slopes. But if their essays in this direction proved abortive, they at all events suc-
ceeded in thwarting the English, who, like themselves, were anxious to command the
shortest interoceanic highways, and for this purpose had occupied the Bay Islands,
near the Honduras coast, the so-called " Kingdom " of Mosquitia, a natiu'al de-
pendency of Nicaragua, and even the port of Greytown at the mouth of the Lake
Nicaragua emissary.

Then came the construction of the transcontinental railways in United States
territory itself, and this, combined with the energetic resistance of the Hispano-
American populations, postponed, at least for a time, the accomplishment of the
national aspirations for political ascendency in the Central American States.

Since the epoch that followed the discovery of the Californian goldfields the
independence of the Central American republics has not again been threatened by
the United States. But the "Washington Government has steadily pursued a
policy calculated to prevent European influence from replacing their own, and at
the time of Maximilian's accession to the throne of Mexico they co-operated by
their diplomatic action with the efforts of the natives to recover their autonomy.

At present all the mainland of Central America. British Honduras alone
excepted, is constituted in independent political states. Even in the archipelagoes
held by the European powers, one large island is divided between two sovereign
nations, the San Domingans, a mixed Hispano-Xegro people of Spanish speech,
and the Haitians, of African descent and French speech.

Altogether the insular world presents a marked contrast with the neighbour-
ing mainland, not only in its political status, but also in the original elements of

MEXICO, CENTEAL AMERICA, WEST INDIES.

its inhabitants. Within a few years of the Spanish conquest, the "West Indian
aborigines had almost completely disappeared. The natives of Haiti and Cuba,
by whom the first European mariners had been well received, have perished to a
man. The Carib populations of the smaller southern islands are also everywhere
represented, except in St. Vincent and Dominica, only by half-breeds.

According to Bartholomew de las Casas " the Christians caused by their
tyrannies and infernal deeds the death of over twelve million souls — perhaps
even over fifteen millions— men, women, and children." However approximately

Fio-. 4.— Mexico befoee the Annexations to the United States.
Scale 1 : 27,000,000.

West or bneenwich

90°

ES3

Former
Territory.

Present
Territory.

. 620 Miles.

correct may be this frightful estimate made by the famous " defender of the
Indians," it is absolutely certain that the massacres and grinding rule of the
Spaniards resulted in the extermination of the aborigines throughout the Antilles,
while those of Mexico and Central America have held their ground.

Hence the necessity of Introducing another race into the Islands of that " Carib-
bean Sea," where the Carlbs themselves have been replaced by the negroes.
African slaves were imported by millions to fill the void made by the wholesale mas-
sacre of the natives. But no sj'stematic records are now available to determine with
any accuracy the actual nimiber of "human cattle " thus transferred from the eastern

GEXEBAL SUEVEY. 9

to the western shores of the Atlantic during the course of over three centuries.
Some writers speak of ten or fifteen millions ; but in any case the slave trade has
cost Africa a far greater number of lives than it is now possible to calculate.

Xearly all the negroes imported during the early period of the traffic perished,
like the Caribs, without leaving any posterity. Despite their ready adaptation to
a climate which differed little from their own, most of them, being engaged chiefly
in the destructive work of the mines, died out within a few vears.

Thus it happened that the negro race was very slowly established in the Xew
\Vorld, being gradually constituted of a thousand different ethnical elements
drawn from every part of the African seaboard, and diversely intermingled with
the blood of their European masters. Thanks to these endless crossings, the
native dialects of the slaves disappeared, and amongst the idioms current in the
Antilles only a few words can now be traced to an African source. The slaves
rapidly adopted the languages of their Spanish, French, or English owners. But
if in this respect, as well as in the usages and outward forms of civilisation, they
were brought under European influences, their physical constitution was better
suited for the environment of the TTest Indies, where they have now become the
numerically dominant race. Except in Cuba, where the Spaniards form the
majoritj- of the population, and perhaps also in Puerto Eico, the blacks and
people of colour everywhere form by far the most numerous element.

This part of the Xew "World, the first discovered by the Spaniards, has become
an ethnological dependency of the African Continent, and by a sort of retributive
justice, the negro race has even acquired political autonomy in the large island
of Haiti. Such an event is not without a certain historic importance. The des-
pised race, supposed to be doomed to everlasting servitude, has forcibly entered
into the number of sovereign peoples. It has not only victoriously resisted the
efforts made to again bring it under a foreign yoke, but despite a chronic state
of intestine strife and the rivalries of ambitious chiefs, it has for a century main-
tained its independent position amongst its powerful and hostile neighbours.

To the preponderance of the negro race in the Antilles corresponds that of
the Indians in ifexico and Central America. The Spaniards who at first played
the part of truculent masters and treated the aborigines abominably, are now
merged with them under the name of ladinos. So true is this that the mesti-
20s, or half-castes of the two races, constitute the chief element of the population
throughout the northern Hispano- American republics. According to the official
returns the white race is in a majority only in the State of Costa Rica. Thus
history has resumed its normal course. For over three centuries the Spaniards
had lived as parasites on the ilexican populations, and in accordance with a
constant law of nature, this parasitic existence had incapacitated them for vigorotis
action. Throughout this long period, the peoples of the colonial empire misgoverned
by Spain remained without a history. Its annals were mainly reduced to a bald
record of the appointment, recall, or death of public functionaries.

But below a seemingly unrufiled surface, important changes were maturing
in the social life of the nation. The heterogeneous racial elements were being

10 MEXICO, CEsTEAL AMEEICA, WEST EvDIES.

graduallT fused in a conunon nationality, with like customs, ideas, and aspira-
tions, and \ntli a growing capacity for acting in concert for the general welfare.
Thus it was that when the metropolis, overrun with foreign armies, found itself
unable to maintain its authority in the Xew "World, Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras,
and the other Central American provinces, were suddenly seen to develop into
armed nations, in which the descendants both of the Spanish CHanquerors and of
the conquered aborigines were animated by a common sentiment.

This sudden appearance of new nations, or rather the revival of the old Ameri-
can nation?, clothed in a vesture of civilisauon different from that which they had
formerly worn, was not confined to the central regions, but took place also in
Colombia, Venezuela, Equador, Peru — in a word, throughout the whole of Spanish
America. By a curious irony of fate, the Napoleonic epoch, which was supposed
to signalise the close of the revolutionary period, and the re-establishment of
autocratic government, led in the Xew World, on the contrary, to the outburst of
a general movement of independence for the Hispano- American race. From that
epoch dates the modem history of the southern continent.

But the new order of things had been prepared by the successful revolt of the
British Xorth American colonies, which acquired their independence several
decades before the uprise of the Spanish provinces. Xot only were the English
settlements emancipated at an earlier date, but they have also far outstripped the
mixed Spanish communities in social development and general culture.

Their work, however, was more easily accomplished, and in some respects is per-
haps of less significance in the history of mankind. The United States are, so to say,
little more than an expansion of the Old TTorld ; in their ethnical elements,
whether white or black, tbey reproduce the social conditions of Europe and Africa
in another environment," where the aboriginal element has been mainly eliminated.
The tribes that have not been extirpated, or that have not been effaced by complete
absorption in the surrounding populations, are not merged in the social system,
but live apart, either still in the wild state, or in reserves under Government
control.

But the conditions are very different in Spanish America, where the bulk of
the population consists of "Hispanified Indians," who, while receiving European
civilisation, and mixing in various degrees with their white conquerors, have none
the less remained the representatives of the old American race. The Anglo-
Saxons have destroyed or repelled the indigenous populations ; the Iberians have
assimilated them, at least on the mainland. In Mexico, and in the other Spanish
repubh'cs, crossings and common usages have effected a reconciliation between
various races which were formerly hostile, and even totally alien, to each other.

Latin America, where heterogeneous elements still persist, cannot yet be
compared with Anglo-Saxon America for its relative importance as a factor in the
equilibrium of the world. But the various republics of which it is composed are
none the less increasing in power from decade to decade, and are already suffici-
ently consolidated to resist foreign encroachments. Collectively, they occupy con-
siderably more than half of the Xew World, for they comprise, besides the

GENERAL SURVEY.

Antilles, all the southern part of North America. But they are divided by the
region of the isthmuses into two distinct geographical areas.

In her almost isolated position, Mexico serves as an advanced bulwark for the
whole of Spanish America against the Anglo-Saxon world. "Wars and diplomacy
have deprived her of all her northern territory, her outer ramparts, so to say ;
but she still retains nearly in its entirety the domain where the Spanish-speaking
populations are chiefly concentrated.

Characteristic of the Mexican nation as a whole is the incessant struggle it is
compelled to make against the growing influence of the United States. Doubtless,

Pig. 5. — Pbedomtnant Kaces in Centeal Ameeica.
Scale 1 : 00,000,000.

of Intlians
over whites.

Full -blood Indiana.

Predominance —

of Indians of whites

over whites over blacks,

and blacks.

of whites
over Indians.

of blacks
over whites.

. 1,240 MUes.

of blacks
over whites
and Indians.

the powerful northern confederacy has a large share in the changes which are
continually going on in Mexico. Nevertheless, the Mexicans seek their allies in
the rest of Spanish America, and especially in Europe, and even in France, which
not so long ago sent an expedition to destroy their political autonomy. They call
themselves and feel themselves " Latins," and the very term ladino has become syno-
nymous with "enlightened," or "civilised" throughout Central America.

Should the emancipated nations of the earth ever group themselves according
to their natural affinities and regardless of distances, the Mexicans and the
other Latinised peoples of America will inevitably become associated with the
kindred Latin peoples oi Europe. As in England and the British Colonies a

12 MEXICO, CENTEAL AMERICA, WEST INDIES.

stron- feeling has sprung up for a more intimate alliance of all English-speaking
comm°unities, in fact, for the constitution of a "Greater Britain " encircling the
globe-in the same spirit an "Ibero-American" society has been founded for the
formation of a league between all Spanish-speaking states. At the first congress
held by this association in the city of Mexico in 1887, as many as nineteen states
were represented by their delegates. Belt's prophecy, that in a few centunes
English would be the mother-tongue of all Americans, from the Frozen Isles of
the great north to the Land of Fire, does not seem likely to be fulfilled. Jules
Leclercq has even ventured to assert that in a short time all Mexico will be
English. But this is a delusion, as shown, for instance, by the extreme slowness

Fig. 6.— Canals and Eootes aceoss the IsiinniSES.

Scale 1 : 20,000,000.

Railways.

Projected
Railways.

Canal in
progi-ess.

, 245 Miles.

Projected
Canal.

with which the process of assimilation is proceeding in New Mexico, a territory
where, at the time of the annexation to the United States, over forty years ago.
there were only fifty thousand people of Spanish speech.

Sooner or later, the region of the isthmuses must occupy a commercial position
of the first importance, for here will assuredly one day be traced the great line of
inter-communication between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Accordingly, the
Americans might well suspect the European powers of the intention of seizing one
or other of these passages. It was, in fact, the fear of such a contingency that
inspired the « Monroe doctrine" of "America for the Americans," thereby for-
mally reserving the possession of the isthmuses for the states of the New World.

. « •

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GENEEAL SURVEY. 18

The vital importance of these narrow tongues of land was perceived by
Columbus himself, as he coasted along the shores of Veragua, vainly seeking for
the marine channel through which the two oceans were supposed to communicate.
But this channel, or rather these channels, for there existed more than one, have
been closed by nature since the tertiary epoch, and the work of re-opening them
must now be undertaken by man. Pending the accomplishment of this enterprise,
roads, and even railways have been laid down from shore to shore. The southern
series of isthmuses is already traversed by two railways, those of Panama and
Costa Pica, and several others have been begun.

Unfortunately, the land itself is still indifferently adapted to serve as a high-
way of communication between "West Europe and the East Asiatic and Austral-
asian regions. In many parts of Central America, journeys across the forests,
swamps, and unexplored tracts are attended by imminent risk. Not a single
explorer is known to have yet followed the direct overland route from Mexico to
Columbia. Even in the narrow spaces between the two seas it is dangerous to
deviate from the beaten tracks. So great were the difficulties of travel and trans-
port that tni recently neither east Honduras, north Nicaragua, nor Costa Rica
possessed any outlets on the Caribbean Sea. In a commercial sense, these states
could scarcely be said to possess an Atlantic seaboard at all. All national life and
activity was centred exclusively on the side facing the Pacific Ocean, and from
this coast the communications have been very slowly developed across the
isthmuses in the direction of the Atlantic waters. Regarded as a whole, the
inter-oceanic region is still almost an uninhabited wilderness, where the average
population scarcely exceeds ten persons to the square mile.

CHAPTER II.

MEXICO.

I. — General Considerations.

XCLUDINGr the Yucatan peninsula, the territory of the " United
States of Mexico " is a triangular mass which forms the southern
extremity of the North American continent properly so called.
These Hispano- American United States are bounded on the east
side by the long curve of the Gulf of Mexico, on the west by the
shores of the Pacific, which describe a still more extensive arc of a circle. Both
curves gradually converge southwards in the direction of the Isthmus of Tehuan-
tepec, where Central America proper begins, if not in a political, at least in a geo-
graphical and historical sense. Both on the north and south sides, the frontiers
are purely conventional, corresponding in no way with the natural parting lines
of the fluvial basins.

Doubtless, the north-east frontier, for a distance of about 750 miles, is traced
by the Rio Bravo del Norte, which separates Mexico from Texas. But this
narrow stream is not a sufficiently salient geographical feature to constitute a
true dividing line ; on both sides the plains and hills present the same general
aspect, and are subject to the same climate. No material change is perceptible
for a long way beyond the Texan border, where the population grows more dense,
and arable lands begin to replace the unfertile savannas.

West of the Rio Bravo the frontiers, as laid down by the treaty between
Mexico and the United States, are a mere succession of geometrical lines. At first
they coincide with 31° 47' north latitude for a distance of 100 miles ; then they
suddenly drop southwards to 31° 20' N., along which parallel they run westwards
to 111° W. of Greenwich. At this point, the line is drawn obliquely to the Rio
Colorado, 20 miles below the Rio Gila confluence, and then ascends this river to
the confluence at Yuma, whence it follows a straight Hne across the neck of
the Calif ornian peninsula to the Pacific coast, 12 miles south of San Diego.

Despite the fantastic character of this geometrical frontier, it coincides at
certain points with prominent physical traits in the general relief of the land.
Thus it connects the upper Bravo valley with the head of the Gulf of California,
not far from the profound depression between two distinct spurs of the Rocky
Mountains traversed by the Rio Gila.

At the other extremity of the Mexican territory, the political frontier is less

EAELY MEXICAN EXPEDITIONS. 15

justified by the physical conditious. According to tlie treaty concluded ^vith
Guatemala in 1822, the common frontier runs from the Pacific coast near the little
river Suchiate, across the main range to the Tacana volcano, and the Buenavista
and Isbul heights, and thence eastwards along the parallel of 1 6° 40' to the left
bank of the Rio Usumacinta, the course of which river it shoidd then follow to
within 15 miles to the south of the town of Tenosique. But in these roughly
explored regions, the river valleys have not everywhere been accurately determined
and certain points of detail still remain to be decided. Bej'ond the Usumacinta
the line runs westwards to the Eio Hondo, which marks the boundary of British
Honduras, and which falls into Chetumal Bay at the south-east corner of Yucatan.
Comprising all the outlying territories, and the remote Revilla-Gigedo
Archipelago, Mexico has a total area officially estimated at 790,000 square miles,
with a population (1889) of over 11,000,000.

In its main outlines, this vast region was already known about the middle of
the sixteenth century. Within twenty- four years of the conquest explorers had
visited all the coastlands, and had penetrated far inland from Yucatan to California
and the "seven cities" of Cibola. In 1502, Columbus had already met Yucatan
traders on the coast of Honduras ; but it was only in 1517 that the Cuban planter,
Hernandez de Cordoba, during a slave-hunting expedition, discovered the first
point on the Mexican seaboard, the present Cape Catoche, at the north-west corner
of Yucatan. From that point he coasted Yucatan as far as Champoton, where a
disastrous engagement with the natives compelled the Spaniards to re-embark.

In 1518, the survey of the coast was continued by Juan de Grijalva, whose
primary object was to punish the natives for the reverse of the previous year, but
who pushed forward beyond Champoton some 600 miles to the spot where now
stands the town of Tampico.

A third expedition, under Cortes, followed in 1519 ; but instead of keeping
timidlj' to the seaboard, this daring adventurer aimed at the conquest of an empire.
How he effected his purpose, with what courage, sagacity, and prudence, but also
with what perfidy and ferocious contempt of the vanquished, is now a familiar
tale. In 1521, the capital and surrounding districts were finally reduced, and
armed expeditions were sent in all directions to extend the bounds of " New
Spain." Olid and Sandoval penetrated through the provinces of Michoacan and
CoUma westwards to the Pacific. Alvarado pushed southwards through the high-
lands as far as Guatemala. Cortes himself occupied the Panuco country on the
eastern slope of the mountains skirting the north side of the Mexican basin. Then,
being recalled southwards by the revolt of his lieutenant. Olid, who had crossed by
water to Honduras, he advanced south-eastwards to Tabasco, Chiapas, and the
territory of the Lacandons and Mopans.

Of all the expeditions undertaken by Cortes, none was more surprising than
this march across rivers, swamps, and uninhabited forests. In crossing the
Tabasco plains he had to construct as many as " fifty bridges within a space of
twenty leagues." Supplies fell short, and his followers had to subsist on roots,
berries, and vermin. Even at present few travellers, with aU the resourceo of

MEXICO, CENTRAL A^iTEEICA, WEST INDIES.

cmlisation at tlieir disposal, have the courage to follow the route opened by Cortes.
After his time none of the Spanish conquerors took the trouble of occupying this
wilderness. They were satisfied ^yith the reduction of Yucatan, the conquest of
which, nevertheless, occupied fully fifteen years, from 1527 to 1542.

Although the less wealthy and less densely peopled north-western regions had
fewer attractions for the invaders than the southern provinces, expeditions were
despatched in that direction also. Vessels, whose sails and equipment had been
conveyed from "Vera Cruz across the Mexican plateau, coasted the seaboard towards
the Gulf of California, the entrance of which was reached by a squadron under

Fig. 7.— FiBST MExiOAif Itdteeaeies, 1517 to 1550.
Scale 1 : 30,000,000.

114*

West or brcenwicH

. 620 Miles.

Cortes in the year 1533. To the great captain this burning region owes its very
name of calidafornax (hot furnace), afterwards corrupted to California.

In 1539, Francisco de Ulloa penetrated into the inner waters of the "Vermil-
lion Sea," so named either from the red sea-weed abounding in some of the inlets,
or, according to Pinart, more probably from the deep red colour of the sands
lining its shores. The following year Alarcon completed the exploration of the
gulf, and even penetrated 85 " leagues " up the River Buena-Guia, afterwards re-
named the Rio Colorado.

In 1512, Cabrillo, rounding the headland of Cape St. Lucas at the extremity
of the Californian peninsula, sailed northwards along the Pacific coast to a pro-
montory supposed to be the present Cape Mendocino, beyond 40° N. lat.

On the mainland, Nunez Cabeza de Vaca, escaping from the perils of a daring
march across the Floridas, reached Mexico from the north in 1536. Between

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Scale, I 12,000.000^

0 50 100 150 200 150

PRINCIPAL CAPITALS
TOWNS

Towns of 2"^0rder
Other towns &Anila^es

Heights

Oto 3 000 feet
3 000 to 6 000 „

6 000U) nooo „

12C00tol8 00O „
18 000 upwards

1891

♦l,b 310 Miles.

, Over lOO.OOOmhahitaiits
a „ 50.000 „
10000 „
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EXPLORATION OF MEXICO, 17

1530 and 1532 the atrocious Xuuo de Guzman had reduced the provinces of
Jalisco and Sinaloa ; then, in 1539, the Franciscan friar, Marcos de Xiza, advanced
far into the region which is now known as Xew ilexico, and which lies within the
United States frontier. Here he claimed to have ?cen the marvellous Cibola,
which was soon afterwards shown bjr the expedition under Coronado to be nothing
more than one of those villages belonging to the Zufii nation, where the whole
population dwells in one huge fortiiied building erected around a central court.
Coronado's expedition, which lasted over two years, from 1540 to 1512, and which
was intended to co-operate with Alarcon's sea voyage, resulted iu the occupation
and settlement of Sonora, the north-westernmost state of the present republic.

But although the ilexican territory, properly so called, had now been traversed
in all directions, the itineraries farther removed from the capital had not yet
been utilised for the construction of maps, nor could this be done with any ap-
proach to accuracy in the absence of astronomic determinations. In 1542, the
viceroy ilendoza was still engaged in fixing the position of the city of ifexico
at 25 degrees, -12 minutes farther west than its real meridian, the calculations
being deduced from the observation of two lunar eclipses. Even so late as 1579,
the map published by Ortelius gives only the central district round about the
capital with a fair degree of acciiracy.

Despite all the explorations along the Califomian seaboard, it was even still
maintained that California itself had been circiminavigated, and its iasular character
thus fully established ; hence the Jesuit, Salvatierra, who began the settlement
of this region in 1697, gave it the name of Lsia Carolina (Caroline Island). In
fact, the researches of the early explorers were not confirmed till the begiuniag of
the eighteenth century by the missionary, Kiihn, the Eino of Spanish writers.

It appears from the manuscript documents possessed by the Madrid Academia de
Sktoria, and from the collections preserved in Mexico, that as early as the seven-
teenth century the national archives, unfortunately closed to the student, contained
all the elements necessary for a complete and detailed description of Xew Spain.
Nearly all the memoirs forwarded to the Council of the Indies were accompanied
by plans. Xevertheless, even the best maps were disfigured by errors of half a
degree of latitude, and from one to two degrees of longitude.

Alexander von Humboldt's journey in 1803 and 1801 has been described as a
" second discovery of Mexico." .AH the known parts of Xew Spain were certainly
not visited by the great explorer ; but his vast knowledge and intelligence enabled
him to co-ordinate the itineraries of his predecessors, comparing and controlling
one with another, and deducing from them, at least for the region of the plateau,
the true form of the Mexican relief.

He also studied the physical phenomena of the land, its igneous eruptions and
thermal springs, the vertical disposition of its climates and flora, the direction and
force of the winds prevailing on this part of the planet, the extent of its rainfall,
the variations of its magnetic currents. Besides all this, he compared the mineral,
agricultural, and industrial resources of Mexico with those of other regions, and
ttius determined its relative value amongst the civilised regions of the globe.

VOL. XVII. C

MEXICO, CENTRAL AMEEICA, WEST INDIES.

After tlie long sleep imposed upon I^f exico by the system of absolute monopoly, tbe
labours of Humboldt were a sort of revelation ; he showed what the Spanish colony
was capable of at the very time when its emancipation was already at hand.

The exploration of the country was necessarily interrupted during the revolu-
tionary period. But when Mexico at last established its independence, travellers
began again to visit this part of the American continent, henceforth declared free
to all comers. After the wars Burkart followed in the footsteps of Humboldt,
and spent nearly ten years in traversing most of the mineral regions of the
republic.

Burkart's work was continued by other explorers of every nationality, amongst

Pig. 8. — Chief Positions scrENTmcAiLY detebmined in Mexico.

Scale 1 : 30,000.000.

West oF Gpeernfl!cf>

Humboldt and his
predecessors.

Other observators
down to 1S74.

. 620 JUIes.

them the Americans, Stephens and Cathcrwood, who carefully studied the re-
markable monuments still standing in the southern part of the territory. But the
Mexicans themselves also began to take an interest in scientific investigations ; and
in 1839, a geographical and statistical bureau was founded in the capital. This
association, which is one of the oldest of the kind, in the world, has issued valuable
memoirs on nearly every part of the confederacy. It has also prepared the mate-
rials for a general map of Mexico on a larger scale than that of Humboldt, which
was partly produced in sections, and afterwards as a groundwork for Garcia Cubas'
atlas, the first edition of which apjjcared in 1856.

Then came the trigonometric survey of the Anahuac Valley under the direction

EXPLOEATION OF MEXICO.

of Covarrubias, wliicli formed the starting-point for accurate geographical work.
Men of learning, such as Orozco y Berra and Pimentel, also made exjiensive
researches on the distribution of the aboriginal tribes of Mexico, on the history
of their migrations, the origin, affinities, and structure of their languages.

The American officers who penetrated into North Mexico during the war of
1846, and again in connection with the delimitation of the frontiers, also took
part in the topographical researches ; the maps prepared by them for Sonora,
Chihuahua:, Coahuila, Nuevo-Leon, and Tamaulipas still remain the best docu-
ments for the study of those provinces. The chief marine charts, especially
those of lower California, are also the work of United States surveyors.

But works are now In progress with a view to the preparation of a topo-

Fig. 9.— Regions studied by the Oi-ficees op the Fbench Expedition.

Scale 1 : 620 Mjles.

reenwich

. 620 Miles.

graphical map on the scale of -j-T'oV'oT' '^liich will be worthy of comparison with
those of the most advanced states, and which takes as starting-points on one
hand the Mexican Yalley and environs of Puebla, on the other the northern
regions studied by the American and Slexican Boundary Commissions. The
cartographic service in the army of the republic comprises as many as 120 persons
trained for the work.

The period of preliminary explorations is now all but closed, except perhaps
for some parts of the border-lands towards Guatemala, where so recently as 1882
a " dead city " was discovered by Mr. Maudslaj' and explored by M. Chai'nay,

20 MEXICO, CENTRAL AMEEICA, WEST INDIES.

II. — Mexico Proper, North of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec.

Taken as a whole Mexico properly so called may be regarded as a lofty table-
land, on which stand mountain ranges and masses, which, despite Humboldt's oft-
repeated generalisation, hare no kind of connection in their relief or general
trend with the Andean sj-stem of South America. They should be grouped
rather with that of California, though still with numerous interruptions.

Mountains and Volcanoes.

The mean altitude of the whole region is estimated at no less than 3,600 feet.
A plane passing at this elevation above the ocean would detach from the sustaining
pedestal an enormous triangular mass, whose apes would terminate in the south-
east above the Tehuantepec depression, and whose base would be prolonged by
two parallel horns projecting in the direction of the United States.

The great central Mexican plateau is thus seen to be limited on the sides
facing the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans by border ranges, or at least by a succession
of heights or ridges forming a more or less continuous escarpment. Both of these
border ranges have received the designation of Sierra Ifadre, " Main Chain ; " a
term, however, which recurs in almost every part of Spanish America, where it is
freel}^ applied to the dominating crests of the country.

Like all border ranges, the Mexican sierras present striking conti'asts between
their opposite sides, those facing inland falling somewhat gradually down to the
plateau, while those turned towards the oceans are far more abrupt, intersected by
scarps and cliffs, furrowed by deep crevasses, continually modified by landslips,
and scored by tremendous barrancas (chasms or gorges).

The whole region, which contracts gradually southwards between the two
border ranges, forms, so to saj% a large avenue terminating in a labyrinth. The
successive waves of migratory populations coming from the north were attracted
from stage to stage towards the southern angle, that is, towards the basin of
Mexico aiid the plains of Pucbla, which are bounded on the south by the Junta,
that is, the " Junction," or converging-point of the two sierras.

To the triangular depression left between these sierras the expression Mexican
"plateau" is often applied ; it is also occasionally called the Anahuac plateau, or
simply Anahuac, „ terms borrowed from Clavigero and Humboldt. Nevertheless
the mesa or " table " of Mexico presents no continuous level surface, as might be
supposed from the current expressions. The depression A'iewed as a whole
presents rather a succession of basins, for the most part of lacustrine origin, which
follow at constantly diminishing altitudes in the direction from north to south.
But the separating barriers present such slight obstacles to migrations and travel
that during the last century a highway was easily constructed from the capital to
Santa Fe in New Mexico ; carriages could be driven from one city to the other
along this road, nearly 1,400 miles long.

In the southern districts round about Mexico the basins are of relatively small

MOUXTATXS OF MEXICO.

extent, but exceed 6,600 feet in altitude ; even the Toluca basin, in the angle
formed by the two diverging main ranges, stands at a mean height of 8,500 feet
above the sea. Going northwards from Anahuac the continually diverging sierras
give more space for elevated plains, and in the northern regions the vast expanses
enclosed by the encii'cling ranges present almost perfectly level surfaces, broken
only by low ridges. As they stretch northwards these expanses fall in the direc-
tion of the east, and the east sierra itself is much narrower, its mean elevation
being 6,500 feet, or about 1,600 feet less than that of the western escarpment.
A third range, parallel with, but completely separated from, the two sierras

Fig 10. — Bkt.tkf of Mexico.
Scale 1 : 30,000,t<X).

114°

V/est op breerwrc^

0 to 3.300
Feet.

3.300 to 6,600
Feet.

OtooOO
Fathoms.

Heiglifs.

6,600 to 9,900
Feet.

Depths.

J,900 to 16,500
Feet.

. 620 lliles.

16,500 Feet and
upwards.

enclosing the Mexican tablelands, traverses the Califomian peninsula at different
elevations and with two interruptions. Isolated eminences, " lost mountains," as
they are called, are dotted over the space comprised between the highlands of the
American California and the range traversing the peninsula which belongs to
Mexico, but which continues the axis of the Sierra Madre.

The mountains of this peninsula, varying as they do in height and form, must
therefore be regarded as forming an orographic system quite distinct from that of

22 MEXICO, CENTRAL AMERICA, "WEST ENDIES.

Mexico proper. Ifot far from tte neck of the peninsula the system culminates in
Mount Calauiahue, or Santa CataUna, terminating in a peak white as snow and
rising 10,000 feet above the sea.

The northern chain, which skirts the Pacific coast, ends north of the spacious
Sebastian Yiscaino Bay, beyond which it merges through gently inclined plateaux
in a ridge rising above the eastern shores of Lower California. These mountains,
which are of tertiary formation, are interrupted by deep ravines, bej'ond which
rises the volcanic group of the Tres Virgenes ("Three Virgins"), situated almost
exactly in the middle of the peninsula, which has a total length of about 1,300
miles. The peaks of this group appear scarcely to exceed 6,600 feet, though
raised by some authorities to 7,250 feet. But considerable discrepancies occur in
the elevations given by different writers for most of the Mexican moimtains.

No eruption has taken place since 1857 in the Tres Yirgenes group, where
nothing has been noticed except some vapours rising from the crevasses. All the
other volcanoes in Lower California are extinct, mineral and thermal springs, with
a few solfataras, being the only evidences of underground activity. West of the
igneous group a chain of hills traverses the peninsula at an altitude of 3,450
feet, and is continued seawards bj' some lofty islands at its north-west extremitj-.

South of the Tres Yirgenes a ridge of tertiary sandstones, faUiug abruptly
eastwards and presenting a gentle incline towards the Pacific, extends as far as
La Paz Bay. But despite its name, the Cerro de la Giganta, the culminating
point falls below 4,600 feet, while the mean height of the ridge appears to be little
more than 3,000 feet. The extremity of the peninsula south of La Paz forms a
sort of granitic island terminating in two parallel crests, one of which has an extreme
height of 6,220 feet. Mineral deposits, including gold, silver, copper, and iron,
occur in nearly all these coast ranges ; gold prevails in the schists of the west
coast, silver ores chiefly in the porphyries on the opposite side.

Lower or South California, however, notwithstanding its narrow width,
rendering it easily accessible to travellers, is a comparatively unknown region
owing to its excessive dryness and scantj' population. The mountain heights have
for the most part only been measured or estimated at a distance by marine surveyors.
Mariners also have chiefly studied the character of the coasts, one, washed by the
Gulf of California, steep and rocky, the other faUing in gentle inclines towards
the Pacific Ocean, which in many places is fringed by low beaches and sandy
islets. The ranges on the east side rise precipitously above the profoimd chasm,
through which the sea has penetrated far inland between Mexico and the peninsula.

The islands on the east side are disposed in a perfectly parallel axis with the
peninsular ranges, and rise to considerable heights. Angel de la Guardia, amongst
others, has an elevation of 4,320 feet, and collectively these islands of Lower
California have a greater extent than all the other ilexican islands taken together.

Intersected by the straight line forming the geometrical frontier of Arizona,
the various chains, which are limited northwards by the depression of the Eio Gila,
penetrate into the territory of Sonora and Chihuahua in parallel ridges with a
south-eastern trend. These various ranges are collectively grouped under the

VOLCANOES OP MEXICO. 23

general desiguation of Sierra Maclre. In their central parts thoy consist chiefly
of granites and syenites, but sedimentary formations are also largely represented,
especially by a carboniferous limestone interspersed with thin deposits of anthracite.

As in the Lower Californian Mountains, igneous eruptions have occurred at a
great many points, and vast expanses on the plains and slopes of the hills are
covered with molten lavas. One of the cones is not even yet quite extinct, the
Pinacate volcano (5,450 feet), which lies beyond the Sierra Madre proper, some GO
miles east of the Colorado estuary. In the middle of a vast lava field stretching
south of the mountain, rise a few secondary cones, one of which is pierced by a
cave from which escape copious sulphurous exhalations. To the genius of the place
the neighbouring Indians bring propitiatory ofEerings of shells, darts, and the like.

The mean altitude of the Sonera Mountains scarcely exceeds 5,000 feet, but
some of the spurs projecting westwards rise much higher near the coast, where
they present an all the more imposing aspect that they are here visible from base
to summit, with their terminal cliffs and escarpments springing from the level of
the sea. Such are, near the Arizona frontier, the Sonoala highlands, one of whose
peaks has an elevation of 9,500 feet. Such, also, the Alamos, or " Poplar " group
(5,900 feet), in the south of Sonora, followed by other coast ranges in Sinaloa. In
winter their lofty crests are streaked with snow, and all of them contain numerous
silver lodes irregularly crossing each other in all directions.

South-east of Sonora the Sierra Madre rises graduall}', while still retaining the
same geological formation and general aspect. Ilere the Cumbre de Jesus Maria,
in the Tarahumara uplands, exceeds 8,240 feet, and the Frailecitos peak, near
Batopilas, is said to fall little short of 9,900 feet. As they increase in height the
crests draw continually nearer to the coast, and thus present more precipitous
flanks towards the sea. From the coast lagoons and dunes the horizon is bounded
by a long line of lofty crests penetrating into the zone of clouds and vapour.

The line of these crests and of the so-called bufas, or jagged heights, develops a
continuous chain at a mean distance of about 60 miles from the sea. Several of
its summits exceed 10,000 feet, while the Cumbre Pimal, in the Sierra del Nayarit,
attains an altitude of 12,350 feet. But farther soiith the outer terrace of the
Mexican tableland, and the mountains dominating it, lose all apparent regularity
In their general outlines. The groups, connected together by passes at diiferent
elevations, have no longer a uniform direction, and here the loftiest ridges, all
noted for their extremely rich argentiferous deposits, lie more to the east ; south-
wards the whole system Is Interrupted by the deep valley of the Rio Lerma.

Immediately opposite this breach and about 60 miles seaward rises the insular
chain of the Tres Marias and the San Juanito, which are disposed in the direction
from north-west to south-east, parallel with the main continental range. In these
Islands the highest cone, 2,430 feet, has been the scene of volcanic eruptions.

Nor were volcanoes formerly absent In the section of the Sierra Madre which
lies to the north of the Rio Lerma. In several places are still seen lava fields,
some destitute of vegetation, others forest- clad. Here also rise mounds of scorloe
and ashes, and the BreSa district especially, which stretches south of Purango, is a

24 MEXICO, CENTRAL AMEEICA, WEST INDIES.

cliaos of crevasses and lava streams, a ma/jxd-s, or " bad land," very difficult to
traverse. But aU the underground furnaces have long been extinguished north
of the Lerma valley. South of this parting-line begins the region of inland
lava seas, indicated by the chain of burning mountains which here runs obliquely
across Mexico from ocean to ocean. Some of the cones are quite isolated, or else
rise above detached groups, while others lie on the very axis of the main ranges.

Near its Pacific extremitj% the Ceboruco or Ahuacatlan peak (7,140 feet) is
the first eminence in this igneous belt. It forms part of a chaotic group almost
entirely separated from the Sierra JIadre by the valleys and passes commanded by
the city of Guadalajara. In 1870 it entered on a state of \'iolent eruption, and
since then it has never ceased to emit gases and igneous vapours. Ceboruco is the
centre of numerous craters, of which the two largest, one extinct, the other still
smoking, are each 1,000 feet deep. They lie close together, being separated only
by a narrow ridge formed of cones in juxtaposition.

Farther south Colima, which also ejects vapours, j^resents in its collective
phenomena a general analogy to Ceboruco. Despite its great elevation (12,800
feet) this superb cone is merely the southern spur of a still more elevated
porphyry mass, which the natives call the Vokan de Nieve (" Snowy Volcano "),
although its crest does not terminate in a crater. The depression seen on the
summit, usually supposed to be an extinct crater, appears to be nothing more than
an amphitheatre formed of two ravines whose torrents descend to the Pacific.

On the slopes of the Volcan de Nieve the upper limit of the forest zone stands
no higher than 13,000 feet. Here begin the snows which are permanent through-
out the year on all the bare parts of the crest. From the terminal point (14,300
feet), the mountain slopes southwards towards the Yolcan del Fuego, which is
separated by a rocky rampart from the neighbouring colossus.

At Colima eruptions, rare during the last century, have in recent j'ears become
more frequent. In 1869, 1872, 1873, and 1885, masses of ashes have been
ejected, and borne by the atmospheric currents as far as San Luis-Potosi, 280
miles to the north-east. Lavas have also been discharged during these dis-
turbances, but nearly all have flowed from lateral cones, the " Sons of Colima,"
and from eminences scattered over the surrounding valleys.

The Calabozo lagoon, whose deep and still unfathomed chasm discharges its
waters through the Rio San Antonio at the northern foot of the mountain, appears
to be an old crater filled by sulphurous springs. Situated on the very edge of
the Mexican uplands and ravined at its base by enormous barrancas leading down
to the plain, Colima occupies the centre of a vast horizon embracing lofty summits,
plains, and the distant ocean. Eastwards the view reaches as far as the glittering
peak of snowy Popocatepetl. Under the same latitude as the twin crests of Colima
stands the wooded Tancitaro volcano (12,100 foot) ; but it lies much nearer to the
main range, of which it is merely a southern offshoot. Tancitaro, which commands
a distant view of the Pacific, is connected with the Cerro Patamban (12,400 feet)
by the long jagged ridge of the Cerro Periban.

Farther east the almost isolated JoruUo (Joruyo) volcano rises to a height of

VOLCANOES OF MEXICO. 25

4,330 feet iu the midst of a iiia/j)ais, ov jjcd regal, a stony tract of lavas enclosed on
the south by the Eio Jlexcala. Since the description given bj' Humboldt, this is
one of the Mexican volcanoes of which most frequent mention is made. JoruUo
is commonly supposed to have made its aj^pearance one night towards the end of the
year 1759 in the middle of cultivated plains, beneath which long rumbling sounds
had been heard for months before the upheaval. Tradition relates that the Cutza-
randiro cones, 50 miles to the east, had been in a disturbed state some years before
the appearance of Jondlo. Hence the theory that the underground forces opened
for themselves another vent by creating the new volcano, and since that time the
former craters would seem to have been completely closed.

This legend, although supported by the immense authority of Humboldt's
name, is confirmed by no trustworthy documents, and is, moreover, at variance
with the facts since that time observed in every part of the world. One day nothing
was visible except a plain covered with sugar-cane and indigo plantations waving
in the breeze ; next morning six large cones over 1,650 — according to Burkart,
1,230 — feet high, presented themselves to the astonished gaze of thepeasantrj'-,who
had takeB refuge on the surrounding hills. The whole district was reported to
have become, so to say, " embossed," and raised by the molten matter, while the
semi-liquid rocks, pierced in the centre by a funnel, were upheaved above their
former level to form the cone which is now visible.

Such an hypothesis of a vertical thrust of the primitive soil is no less absurd
than another local statement regarding the vengeance of certain Capuchin friars,
who had not been entertained with sufficient honour by the proprietors of the
hacienda, and who on their departure consigned the whole district to the de-
vouring flames. The formation of Jorullo, like that of all other volcanoes, must
in fact be attributed to the ashes and lavas accumulating with each successive
eruption.

Since 1860 Jorullo has been quiescent, or, at least, subject only to slight dis-
turbances. From the crater, a yawning chasm over a mile in circuit and 650 feet
deep, nothing is now emitted except Light vapours, which are mostl}' invisible,
condensing into fog or mist only before rainy weather. The slopes of the mountain
have been partly overgrown with forests, in which trees of the tropical are inter-
mingled with plants of the temperate zone. Even the hoi-nitos, or " little
furnaces," innumerable cones a few yards high, dotted round the base, have also
for the most part ceased to discharge jets of vapour. At the time of Humboldt,
the temperature of these vapours was 205° F. ; since then it has gradually fallen
to from 120° to 140° F., within which limits it oscillates at present. The waters
have also cooled down in the Eio San Pedro and in another rivulet, which was
evaporated or covered by a bed of lava during the eruption, but which reappeared
in hot springs several miles from the volcano.

All these volcanoes, Colima, Tancitaro, Jorullo, and the extinct Tasco, far to
the east, but still north of the Rio Mexcala, are disposed in a line parallel with the
axis of the Sierra Madre, which runs at a mean distance of about 36 miles north-
wards. But this great range is itself composed almost exclusively of old or recent

MEXICO, CENTEAJL AMEEICA, WEST INDIES.

eruptive rocks, between whose foldings are enclosed lacustrine basins wluch are
still flooded, and in which quaternary alluvia have been deposited.

San Andres or Tajimaroa, a group of volcanoes lying east of Morelia, still
presents on one of its summits a funnel filled with boiling water, and emitting
copious sulphurous vapours. These vapours change to sulphates the argillaceous

rig. 11.— JOP.ULIO, ACOOEDINa TO HuMBOLDT.
Scale 1 : 180,000.

Section.

T^^wTWfipjspwr

0hr'(»/4

M^^i^r: y\Mf^S&^^

^^^

' i^^^'..

lors'

• West oF GreenwIcVi

Plan.

3 Miles.

clays of the surrounding district, and thus are periodically undermined the huts of
the workmen occupied in collecting the mud richly charged with sulphur.

The Cerro de las Humaredas, another trachytic cone, owes its name to its
abundant f umaroles. Near it springs a geyser from the very summit of a siliceous
cone gradually deposited by the jets of boiling water. One of the craters, over
13,200 feet high, takes the name of Chillador, or " Whistler," from the hissing
sound of the vapours escaping from its mouth. In 1872 a series of violent earth-
quakes was followed by the appearance of a new ChUlador by the side of the other.

-.i f

'If

.11 1 I J I mill mil I imiii an i iii i

28 MEXICO, CENTRAL AMERICA, WEST INDIES.

scaled. The ascent is in fact relatively easy, thanks to the regularity of the slope,
although the porphyritic mass of Popocatepetl exceeds Mont Blanc by about 1,900
feet. The mean of eleven measurements yields 17,830 feet, oi', according to Ponce
de Leon, 17,780 for the Mexican giant, which is consequently at least 820 feet
lower than its North- American rival. Mount St. Elias.

On the east slope the lower limit of the permanent snows is at 14,250 feet.
Here all the rugosities of the surface are filled with snow, which round the rim of
the crater is transformed to a crj'stalline mass 8 or 10 feet thick ; thus are deve-
loped a few small glaciers fissured by little crevasses. About the east foot of the
mountain are met a large number of scattered boulders, which should with great
probability be attributed to the action of much larger glaciers, which formerly
descended from the summits.

Above the crater rise two chief summits, the Pico Mayor and the Espinazo
del Diablo, which rest on a sharp ridge where the explorer has to maintain his
equilibrium between two profound chasms. On one side the view stretches east-
wards to the hot lands dominated by the plateaux ; on the other yawns the crater,
a cavity over half a mile in circumference, and 250 feet deep.

This cavity is filled with snow ; but jets of gas, which frequently shift their
place, melt the white mass round about the respimdero, that is, the orifice of the
crater. Thus are revealed from a distance those patches of a yellow gold colour,
which indicate the position of the sulphur deposits. The vokaneros, who almost
daily come in search of the sulphur, are let down to the bottom of the crater in a
large basket, which is lowered and raised by means of a windlass erected on the
brim of the chasm. The annual yield is estimated at about fifty tons, and the
mineral is supposed to accumulate at the rate of a ton a day. A spring welling up
on the bed of the crater fills a lagoon, whose waters, according to report, reappear
in thermal fountains at the base of the mountain. Eruptions are rare, and have
been less violent during the present century than at the time of the conquest.

North of Popocatepetl rises the less elevated but still lofty Ixtaccihuatl, or
" White Woman " (16,300 feet), which, however, is not a volcano, although much
dreaded by the natives, and made the subject of numerous popular legends. The
mantle of perennial snows clothing its craterloss porphyritic cone is nowhere
pierced by any fumeroles. According to the Aztecs the two mountains were
divinities, Ixtaccihuatl being the wife of Popocatepetl, which now serves as a
meteorological indicator for the populations dwelling at its base. When the vapours
are a dense black colour, and roll away from the crater in great wreaths in the direc-
tion of the north, rain may be expected. But when the smoke sets southwards it
is a sign of approaching frosts and cold weather. If again the column of vapour
assumes a vertical direction, it is regarded as a forecast of high winds, or else of
earthquakes. Two or three hours before a thunderstorm bursts over the plain,
the crater is seen to discharge at intervals quantities of ashes and pumice.

The two sister mountains which dominate the valley of Mexico stand at the
angle of the triangular bastion which is formed by the central plateaux of Ana-
huao. In the neighbourhood of Tehuacan the Western and Eastern Sierra Madres

VOLCANOES OF MEXICO. 29

cross their axes, and from this junta, or converging point, the two systems are
merged in one as far as the isthmus of Tehuantepec.

But if the "Western Sierra Madre seems to be abruptly terminated at a short
distance to the east of Mexico by a rampart of mountains belonging to another
system of crests, the Tolcanic zone is continued far beyond Popocatepetl by the
eruptive character of the prevailing formations. MaUntzin or ilalinche, the
Matlalcueyatl of the ancient Aztecs^ which is called also Dona ilarina in honour
of Cortes' young Indian interpretress, rises in isolated majesty to a height of
13,550 feet in the middle of the Tlaxcala plateau. According to the local legend
MaKntzin was the daughter of Popocatepetl and Ixtaccihuatl, and had wandered
far and wide before finding a favourable resting place.

Other large eruptive cones stand on the verge of the uplands, on the border
i-ange belonging to the Eastern Sierra Madre. In this range the two loftiest sum-
mits are the volcanoes of Cofre de Perote and Orizaba, both of which are visible
from the sea. The Cofre owes its name of " coffer " to the quadrilateral form of
its summit (13,500 feet), which is often wrapped in aerial shrouds, looking like a
vast sarcophagus raised aloft. The Cofre, which was the Xauhcampa-tepetl or
" Four-ridged Mountain " of the Aztecs, is surrounded by a malpak of lavas, on
the west side of which lies the famous Chinacamote cavern. This natural curiosity,
said by the natives to be six or seven leagues long, is of difficult access, owing to
the huge blocks that have fallen from the roof.

Parasitic craters, which are now extinct, open on the flanks of the Cofre, and
from its base long lava streams descend seawards. Even beyond the tertiary and
quaternary deposits which overlie the older formations of the seaboard, a chain of
reefs, derived from ancient eruptions, and known as the Boquilla de Piedras, is
disposed in a line with the shore. Macuiltepec, or the "Five Moimtains," on the
slopes of which stands the town of Jalapa, is also an extinct crater now filled with
vegetation.

Orizaba, which overlooks the city of the same name some 30 miles south of
the Cofre, exceeds Popocatepetl in altitude. According to the lowest estimates
it is at least 17,500 feet high ; some observers raise it to 17,860, while Perez gives
it an elevation of 18,400 feet, or about 50 more than Humboldt's calculation.

Orizaba's Aztec name of Citlal-tepetl, or " Star Mountain," may perhaps be
due to the fact that the summit of its cone is seen glittering amid the stars, unless
it refers to the burning lavas formerly discharged from its crater. Xo mountain
presents a more imposing appearance in the perfect symmetry of its outlines, and
the beautv of its snowr crest towerinty above the verdant belt of its forests and the
ever-shifting clouds of the lower atmospheric strata.

The lower slopes are easily ascended, but the topmost cone presents great
difficulties, so that but few travellers have succeeded in hewing a flight of steps
in the higher snows, and thus reaching the ashes and scoriae of the great crater.
This culminating point was first reached in 1848 by Eaynolds and Maynard, who
were serving in the American invading army. Three years afterwards Doignon
followed in their footsteps, and to him we owe the first description of the crest, with

MEXICO, CENTEAL A:MERICA, WEST INDIES.

its three craters and intervening walls. The central oval-shaped cavity is over a
quarter of a mile in circuit and from 120 feet to 130 feet deep.

The last great eruption of Orizaha appears to have taken place towards the
middle of the sixteenth century. About the middle of the present century vapours
and sulphurous jets were still ejected from the crumbling rocks, which were
peeling away like the plaster- work of some old ruia ; but these almost transparent
vapours wore seldom visible from the lower regions. Yet an inner wall could be
seen, disposed obliquely in such a way that its slope was confused with that of the
mountain itself. In 1878 the igneous forces were entirely extinguished, and the
crater is now usually filled with snow, which is regularly collected as on Popocatepetl.

Fig. 12. — Oeizaba Peak.

Scale 1 : 500,000.

Rancho JdTiiipa

f^Ccsc

iflLlc-s.

Parasitic cones arc dotted over the slopes of Orizaba, as well as on the surround-
ing plains. These cones, from 400 to 500 feet high, resemble huge barrows, and
in fact are said by the natives to be funeral mounds erected over the remains of
ancient kings. All must have long been extinct, for they are now clothed with
forest growths, and the craters themselves have become filled with a dense vegeta-
tion. Nevertheless a still active crater Ues in the Derrumbaderos group (10,300
feet) on the crest of a volcanic cone north-west of Tepetitlan.

Orizaba is not the terminal cone in the Mexican igneous zone ; bevoud it an
isolated volcano, Tuxtla, 4,950 feet high, stands on the seashore near the extreme
curve formed by the Gulf of Mexico between the mainland proper and the Yucatan
peninsula. Tuxtla lies 135 miles in a straight line from Orizaba, and it is separated
from the Sierra Madre system by extensive tracts of alluvial soil watered by several
streams. In lG64it discharged some molten lavas, and was then quiescent till the

THE LLANOS OF MEXICO. 31

tremendous outburst of 1793, when tlie ejected scoria) were said to lie wafted in one
direction as far as Vera- Cruz and Perote, in another all the way to Oaxaca. The
disturbances have been renewed in recent times.

According to the imanimous testimony of the natives the two volcanoes of Orizaba
and Tuxtla " hold converse together " by means of mufSed rumblings like the sound
of distant thunder. The headlands of lava projected seawards by Tuxtla form the
eastern extremity of the winding volcanic zone, whose central axis, about 730 miles
long, coincides very nearly with the 19th parallel of latitude, and is continued far
into the Pacific westwards to the Hawaii Archipelago. The uninhabited Revilla-
Gigedo islands, which lie on the track of this conjectural volcanic fault, are
probably of igneous origin ; Poulett Scrope mentions the fact that vessels navigating
those waters frequently find the surface covered with floating pumice.

The region of the Mexican volcanoes also coincides with the principal zone
of earthquakes, whose undulations are usually propagated in the direction from
east to west in a line w ith that of the burning mountains. The province of Jalisco
especially is much exposed to these seismic movements. Buildings erected on
granite or porphj'ry rocks suffer more than others from such disturbances.

The Eastern Sierra Madre, whose culminating peaks are the Cofre and Citlal-
tepetl, forms, like the western system, a southern continuation of highlands lying
within the United States frontier. The parallel ridges of the Apache Mountains,
which arc disposed in the direction from south-west to north-east, and which arc
pierced by the gorges of the Pio Bravo, rcapj^ear on the right or Mexican side of
that river. Here they develop a long lino of Jurassic limestone ramparts running
south-eastwards and presenting precipitous slopes whose sharp crests are here and
there pierced by a few eruptive cones.

These crests do not exceed an average altitude of about 3,500 feet ; but like
the western range they rise gradually southwards, and in the neighbourhood of
Saltillo some of the summits already attain an elevation of G,600 feet. In these
regions of north Mexico the two converging eastern and western sierras are not
yet connected by any transverse ridges, but are, on the contrary, separated by vast
plains and by basins of quaternary alluvial matter which were formerly deposited
by extensive inland seas, and which under the action of the winds have since
assumed the form of elevated dunes. Here they take the name of llanos, like the
grassy savannahs of Yenezuela ; but in Mexico these old lacustrine beds have a
different A'ogctation, and thej'- arc moreover divided into distinct depressions hj
small ridges of volcanic or other hills rising above the plains. These ridges are
for the most part disposed in the direction from north-west to south-east, parallel
with the two great border ranges, and thus form narrow gulches, ravines or canons,
which are traversed by rivulets and highways.

One of these steppes is the Llano de los Cristianos, which occupies some thousand
square miles south of the Pio del Iforte and its affluent, the Rio Conchos, and which
is divided into a multitude of secondary plains by numerous sierras and chains of
Kills. Farther south the Llano de los Gigantes, so called from the remains of
gigantic animals found in the clays and sands formerly supposed to be those of

MEXICO, CENTBAL AMERICA, WEST INDIES.

ancient giants, is far more level, its uniform surface being broken only by a few
knolls of low elevation. South-eastwards it develops into the Bolson or "Purse"
of Mapimi, a vast sandy and saHne basin, for the most part desert, about 40,000
square miles in extent. The Bolson do Mapimi is the Sahara of Mexico.

South of this depression the ground rises, and the two border ranges are here
connected by intermediate highlands and the crests of a mountainous plateau.
South-east of Saltillo a first group of summits attains a height of 8,450 feet ;
farther south a peak in the mining district of Catorce exceeds 9,000 feet; the crest
of the Veta Grande in Zacatecas maintains an altitude of 9,200 feet ; the Cerro de
la Cruz, near Aguascalientes, is said to be exactly 10,000 feet high ; the Gigante,
or " Giant," near Guanajuato, exceeds it by 850 feet, while a neighbouring summit,

Fig. 13. — Volcanoes of Mexico.

Scale 1 : 11,000,000.

West op bnernwich

ISO Miles.

despite its name of Llanitos or " Little Plains," approaches 11,500 feet. Lastly, all
the northern part of the states of Queretaro and Hidalgo is occupied by a chaos of
peaks and cones, some of which are distinguished by their fantastic outlines. Such
is the Mamanchota (about 10,000 feet), the " Organos " of Actopan, so named
from its porphyrj' towers disposed like the gigantic pipes of an organ.

Owing to the sporadic disposition of the mountain masses scattered over the
plateau, they may almost everywhere be easily turned without having to be crossed.
It was thus that the migrating tribes and conquering hordes were able to advance
southwards by following the natural routes winding round Malinche and Popoca-
tepetl, and meandering amid the heights of Hidalgo, Queretaro, and Guanajuato.

On the other hand the escarpments of the plateau are in many places extremely
difficult to scale, and especially to turn horizontally, owing to the deep barrancas
excavated in parallel lines along the slopes of the hills. In the districts where
pumice and light scoriaj are the prevailing formations, the running waters have

THE MEXICAN PLATEAUX.

scooped out enormous gorges hundreds of yards deep, which converge in still larger
ravines before reaching the level of the plains. The best known of these barrancas
arc those of the sierras of Tepic, of the Colima and Orizaba volcanoes and neigh-
bouring highlands. Sometimes a whole day is required to reach a village which
may be seen perched on a terrace only a few miles distant ; but in the inter,
vening space the traveller has perhaps to cross four or five deep troughs, whose
crumbling slopes are scored by dangerous zigzag tracks. In some of the older
barrancas the slopes are entirely concealed by a dense vegetation.

But while nature is destroying in one place it is building up in another.
The plateaux, the isolated mountains, and even the volcanoes of comparatively

Tig- U.— iGNEOtra Reoions axd Volcakoes of Mexico.
Scale 1 : 12,000,000.

Active Volcanoes. Eruptive Rocks. Sedimentary Rocks. Extinct Volcanoes.
The blank spaces have not yet been thoroughly surveyei
— ISO Miles.

recent geological date, as well as the flanks of giants such as Popocatepetl, are
found to be covered with an argillaceous or marly layer to an average depth of from
15 to 30 feet. These layers are composed entirely of dust brought by the remolinos
depolvo, little whirlwinds rising at intervals on the plateaux, "like movable
minarets, disappearing and reappearing incessantly." But this dust itself, which
now completely clothes the hill-sides, can come only from other formations of
recent origin, from the so-called tcpcMc, a clay detached by the rains from the
rocks, and elsewhere deposited in the form of fine alluvial matter.

South of the uplands, lying between the two border ranges, the surface of the
plateaux is occupied by a series of plains, the beds of old lakes, or inland seas.
One of these is the Bajio, a long sinuous depression which winds for about 125

VOL. xvir. D

MEXICO, CENTEAL AMEEICA, WEST INDIES.

miles along the base of the Guanajuato Mountains, and which is covered with a
friable black clay, resulting from the disintegration of the basalt rocks.

In these regions, comprised in the triangular space which is enclosed by the
two converging sierras, the mean elevation of the pedestal exceeds 6,600 feet, and
here nearly all the towns stand at this altitude above the sea. Morelia, situated
in a low valley at the northern foot of the volcanic range, lies only about 200 feet
lower. Toluca is 8,500 feet, the neighbouring village of Tlaluepantla 9,180 above
the sea-level, and Mineral del Monte, in the province of Hidalgo, 6-5 feet lower.
Lastly, the farmstead of Tlamecas, which is inhabited throughout the year, lies

Fig. 15. — CONTEEGENCE OF THE TWO SlEEllA MadEES.
.<5cale I : 430n,000.

"'y^^^f?^ J\^a7«^^,,,(/^>^ r/

C^ ^^£

^', -y'

i^'ii^fef^--

, 120 Miles.

on the flanks of Popocatepetl at an altitude of 12,560 feet, an altitude at which
the natives of the lower regions sometimes find it difficult to live.

The uplands, which form a south-eastern extension of the Anahuac plateau,
present no kind of symmetry in their general design. They may be regarded as
the remains of an ancient plateau carved into irregular masses by the running
waters. These waters have eroded the rocks on both slopes, leaving erect the
harder masses, which form irregular ridges disposed in various directions, some
parallel with, others transverse to the border ranges. By the old Aztecs, these
highlands were called Mixtlan, or " Cloud Land," and the Spaniards still call
them Mixteca Alia, that is, L^plands of the Mixtecs, or " Cloud-dwellers."

North of Oaxaca, the Cerro San Felipe del Agua, which may be regarded as

!rHE MEXICAN UPLAJfDS.

belonging to the central axis of the mountain region, attains a height of 10,300
feet ; but the culminating point is the Zampoal-tejwtl, which lies on a secondary
branch, and which, according to Garcia Cubas, exceeds 11,200 feet. From its
summit a view is commanded both of the Pacific and the Gulf of Mexico.

South of these irregular uplands, which form the fractured stem of the central
chain, the Sierra del Sur, a more continuous and better-defined range, stretches
south-eastwards along the Pacific coast. This range, whicb is also sometimes called a
Sierra Madre, is said to roach an altitude of 9,200 feet in the Cimaltepec district,

Fig. IC. — VaKIOUS AlTITUBES of the MEXICiX MoTWTACfS iNTJ ToWTTS.

Feeb
16,500

13.200

9.900

6.600

3,300

Popoc^t^p^ -p^Ori^^b^

•Ixiedhuai/

ti. cmpba/Iephs
'Tancitmro

CP/ms/,

Cumhre ^

•Toluca

CHihu3^lua Zacalecos

MEXICO
Fresnillo. • .Apam
Gwanajuato, 'PuebU
OJrVngo' " ■ Moreira"« ' S.C.-1sl5bar ■

. SanLu.s" "Oueretapo
Amcca

Aguascalientes .TeJ,uacsn

P I I - • .Oaxaca
uuadalaiara

■^ Jalapa.

•Santa-Crui ■ -Oo^aba

Jorullo

Collma* Monterey .S. Andres Tu«tla
Vera-Cruz. Merlda.

no- West oF Greer^wlcV. -SO*

south of Oaxaca. Near Juquila, on the sea-coast, stands an isolated headland, tlic
extinct Chacahua volcano, Mhose crater is now filled with sulphur. Another
cone, one of the ten still active volcanoes in Mexico, lies farther east near Pochutla.
Before 1870, when it suddenly ejected scorioc and vapours, it was supposed to
be extinct, all memory of any previous explosions having died out.

In the isthmus of Tehuantepec the Mexican ranges are continued on the
Pacific side by a series of uplands which are crossed by six passes at a low eleva-
tion. The lowest, which takes the name of Portillo de Tarifa from a neighbouring

36 MEXICO, CENTBAL AMEEICA, WEST INDIES.

village, IS only 1,000 feet high. Most of tlio high grovmcls skirting the plains of
the isthmus aifect the form of " tables " ; seen from the surrounding mountains,
they merge almost entirely with the lowlands.

According to Spear, a geologist attached to one of the numerous expeditions
that have studied the isthmus of Tehuantepec, the terraced formations consist
partly of cretaceous rocks deposited at a time when the Atlantic and Pacific
Oceans were here connected by a broad channel. After their upheaval the
flanks of these chalk cliffs became overlaid on both sides by more recent tertiary
and quaternary formations. The land still continues to encroach insensibly on
the ocean ; the Pacific Coast, formed of late alluvial matter, is continually
advancing seawards, while the lagoons along the shore are gradually drying up.
In the isthmus of Tehuantepec low-lying tracts occupy a larger space relatively to
the whole region than in any other part of Mexico.

The two oceans were also at one time connected farther north by another
marine passage, and the so-called " Valley " of Mexico in the very centre of the
Anahuac tableland is a remnant of this old branch of the sea. Towards the close
of Mesozoic times the marine waters winded over these lands which at present
stand over 6,500 feet above sea-level, and the volcanoes now surmounting them
had not yet discharged their lava streams. At this epoch the contour line of the
Gulf of Mexico also lay far more to the west than in our days. The rich silver
mines are nearly all situated in the two Sierra Madres north of the " Valley,"
and are disposed along certain definite lines. Thus their main axis appears to run
due north-west and south-east between Batopilas and Guanajuato, and the famous
argentiferous lodes of Zacatecas, Fresnillo, Sombrcrete, and Durango all lie on or
near this axis ; the lodes themselves are disposed in the same direction.

Rivers and Lakes.

The form of the Mexican plateau with its narrow escarpments, and its border
ranges disposed parallel with the seaboards, combined with the dry climate of the
northern and central regions, has prevented the development of any large fluvial
systems with extensive ramifying arteries. Of all Mexican rivers the most impor-
tant, if not for its volume at least for its length and for the part that it plaj's as
the political frontier-line between the Anglo-Saxon and Hispano- American repub-
lics for over 720 miles of its course, is the Rio Bravo, or Rio Grande del Norte. The
Mexican part of its basin comprises about 94,000 square miles, or one-third of the
whole area of its drainage ; but it receives scarcely any copious or perennial streams.
Most of their beds are dry except during the rainy season, and their waters, ren-
dered saline by lodging in shallow basins, give a brackish taste to the Bravo itself.

The largest affluent on the Mexican side is the Rio Conchos, whose headstreams
are fed for a distance of over 200 miles north and south by the eastern slopes of
the great Sierra Madre between the States of Sonora and Chihuahua. From the
Eastern Sierra Madre flows the Rio Salado, or " Salt River," whose very name
indicates a prolonged period of drought. In the same range rises the Rio San

THE MEXICAN EIYEES,

Fig. IT. — Tajiaulipas Coast Lagoons.
Scale 1 : 2,500,000.

Juan, -nliicli is formed of the numerous sparkling streams that water the more
fertUe districts of Coahuila and Nuevo-Leon. One of these streams towards the
southern extremity of the basin is the Puente de Dios, which plunges from a
height of 200 feet into a profound chasm 70 or 80 feet below one of those natural
causeways which are here called " God's
Bridges."

The alluvial matter brought down by
the Eio Bravo has caused the land to
encroach far beyond the normal coastline ;
but it has failed to fill up the coast
lagoons, so that here is de^'eloped a
double shoreline ; the sandy strips, and
the seaboard proper. Elongated back-
waters, which continue those fringing the
coast of Texas roimd the north-western
shores of the Gulf of Mexico, are disposed
parallel with the sea in a continuous
chain, broken only by the alluvial banks
which have been deposited bj' coast
streams along: both sides of their chan-

nels.

These inner waters, which have a
total length of about 200 miles, commu-
nicate with the open sea only by narrow
passages, which shift their position with
the storms and rains. The water also
varies in its saline contents according
to the freshets of the coast streams and
the irruptions of the sea. The lagoons
are gradually silting up with the sediment
deposited by the two little coast streams,
the San Fernando or Tigre, and La Ma-
rina, the old E,io de las Palmas.

South of La Marina and of a few other
rivulets, the Tamesi and the Pauuco, which
formerly flowed in separate channels, are ^
now united in a district studded with
lagoons and swamps above the bar of
Tampico ; hence the name of Tampico

sometimes given to the two united rivers. The Panuco, the more copious of the
two, rises north of the Mexican Valley, and even receives some contributions
through the Huehuetoca cutting; under the names of Tula or Montezuma it
describes a vast semicircular bend towards the west across the Hidalgo uplands,
beyond which it collects the various streams flowing from Queretaro. One of

§ ^

Depths.

Oto 10
Fathoms.

10 to 23
Fathoms.

23 to 50
Fathoms.

50 Fathoms
and upwards.

. 30 Jliles.

MEXICO, CENTEAL AMERICA, WEST INDIES.

these disappears near JaliDan in profound caverns about 2 miles long, wliich
like the arch at Nuevo-Leon also bears the name of Puente de Dios. In these
subterranean galleries human bodies have been found covered with stalactites.

Another of these tributaries forms the famous Falls of Regla, where the water
rushes over a breach opened in a cluster of basalt columns. On both sides the

rig. 18. — COATZACOALCOS BaIS.
Scale 1 : 60,000.

94° 25- West op Gree h

94° P5'

CepUis.

otoie

Feet.

16 to 32
Feet.

32 Feet .ind
upwards.

_ 2,200 YaiJs.

columns are festooned with wreaths of lianas, ■nhile the white waters are broken
into cascades, between which rise the hexagonal groups of bluish rock.

The united Panuco and Tamesi have together almost completel}' drained the
chains of lagoons formerly fringing this part of the coast ; but south of the
Tampico river a small inland sea, the Laguna de Tamiahua, still exists, being
2)rotectcd by a narrow cordon of sands from the surf. This rampart does not take
the slightly concave form presented by most of the other sandy strips gradually

THE MEXICAN EIYERS.

formed by the action of the waves at the entrance of the inlets along the coast.

Fi?. 19. — The Begll Falls.

On the contrary it projects some 2o miles iu a convex cuive at the Cabo Eoso, or

40 ■ MEXICO, CENTRAL AMEEICA, "WEST ESTDIES.

" Red Cape," a form evidently due to the presence of a group of rocks or reefs
which has served as a support for the two converging beaches.

In many pLices the shore is covered with dunes, which have been graduidlv
raised above the beach, and which drift inland under the influence of the pvc-
vailing trade winds. Thus the " Villa E,ica de la Vera Cruz," founded by Cortes,
near Zempoala, is now to a great extent covered by dunes of shifting sands.

The theory has been advanced that these dunes may perhaps have been
raised since the coast reefs, which formerly stood some 6 or 7 feet above the
surface, were removed by the builders engaged on the fortress of San Juan d'Ulua
and the town walls. But this view is at variance with the fact that dunes even
higher than those of Vera Cruz have been formed on many other parts of the
coast, and especially near Alvarado ; one of the sandhills in the vicinity of Anton
Lizardo is no less than 265 feet high.

Beyond this point the Alvarado estuary, near the southern inlet of the Gulf of
Mexico, receives a large number of converging streams, the largest of which are
the Papaloapam, or "Butterfly River," and the San Juan. They are both very
copious, thanks to the heavy rainfall produced by the trade winds on the northern
slopes of the Oaxaca uplands.

The Coatzacoalcos, or " Snake River," which flows from the opposite side of
the Tuxtla volcano, and which had already been discovered by Grijalva before the
expedition of Cortes, is also an extremely copious stream, regard being had to its
length of about 220 miles. Its catchment basin is confined to the alluvial plain
and the amphitheatre of low mountains which form the northern slope of the isth-
mus of Tehuantepec. Nevertheless, its lower course is no less than 800 or 900
yards wide ; large vessels after once crossing the bar are able to ascend as far as
Minatitlan, some 25 mUes from its mouth, while boats reach the village of Suchil,
near the middle of the isthmus, and over 60 miles from the coast. But at the
point where the fluvial and marine waters meet there is formed a dangerous sill,
which, since the time of Cortes' expedition, has always maintained a uniform dejjth
of from 12 to 14 feet of water. Many vessels have been wrecked at the entrance
of the river, and it is mainly owing to this danger that engineers have abandoned
the idea of constructing a ship canal across the isthmus of Tehuantepec.

On the opposite side the rivers flowing to the Pacific are obstructed by similar
formations. The large lagoon of Tilema, which lies just south of the narrowest
part of the isthmus, and towards which converge numerous watercourses, has only
from 7 to 10 feet of water on its bar, according to the seasons, and it is often inac-
cessible, even to vessels of light draft. One of the caravals built by Cortes for the
purpose of surveying the coast was wrecked at this point.

The mouth of the Rio Tehuantepec, which reaches the coast west of the great
lagoon, is completely closed by sands for a great part of the year. Shipping has
then to ride at anchor either in the open roadstead well named La Ventosa, or
"Windy," or near the dangerous granite reefs of the Morro de Tehuantepec, or
else far from the alluvial lands of the isthmus in the Salina de Cruz inlet, terminus
of the railway, and now sheltered by a breakwater.

THE MEXICAA^ EIYEES. 41

Being sldrted by loftier ranges running nearer to the sea, the Pacific side of
Mexico presents far less extensive low-lying coastlands and secondary beaches than
the Atlantic side. Nevertheless, even here there are a few coast lagoons, especi-
ally in the district west of Acapulco. Beyond it the sea receives the waters of
the Eio Mexcala or de las Balsas, one of the chief Mexican rivers, whose farthest
sources lie on the southern and some even on the eastern slopes of the volcanic
range. The Apoyac, its principal headstream, which flows by Puebla, rises on the
flanks of Ixtaccihuatl and is fed higher up by the snows melted by the thermal
springs, lower do^'STi by several saline rivulets.

The Eio de las Balsas, that is, " of the rafts," as indicated by its name, is, to a
limited extent, navigable along its lower reaches ; above the bar it is accessible to
small craft, which, higher up, are arrested by rapids, whirlpools, and a high cas-
cade. For a space of 220 miles there occur no less than 226 obstacles of this sort,
eddies, rapids, or dangerous reefs. The volume discharged through the two
mouths of the Mexcala is estimated at 2,500 cubic feet per second. The Rio Tux-
pam, or de CoKma, and the Aniecas, two less copious streams which reach the
Pacific farther north, have a mean discharge of 1,100 and 750 cubic feet respectively.

The Rio Lerma, or Santiago, the Tololotlan of the Indians, is also a considerable
stream. By the riverain populations it is, in fact, known as the " Rio Grande,"
while the inhabitants of Michoacan call it also Cuitzeo, from the large lake situated
in their province. It rises in the State of Mexico in the very centre of the Ana-
huac plateau, and its farthest sources, issuing fi'om undergroimd galleries, descend
from the Nevado de Toluca down to the twin lake of Lerma, the remains of an in-
land sea which formerly filled the upper Toluca valley north of the Xevado volcano.

At its issue from the lake, or rather marshy lagoon, the Lerma stands at the
great altitude of 8,600 feet, and during its winding north-westerlj- course across
the plateau, the incline is very slight. In this upland region it is swollen by
several affluents, some of which, like the main stream itself, flow from lakes dotted
over the tableland. After completiag half of its course at La Barca, the Lerma is
stiU over 5,600 feet above sea-level. Here, some 280 miles from its source, it enters
the large lake Chapala, near its eastern extremity ; but about 12 miles below the
entrance it again emerges through a fissure on the north side of the lake, and still
continues to flow throughout its lower course in the same north-westerlv direction.

Chapala, thus obliquely traversed by the current of the Lerma, is the largest
lacustrine basin in Mexican territory; but this flooded depression, about 600
square miles in extent, is very shallow, its mean depth being only 40 feet, and
the deepest cavities not more than 110 feet. Everywhere, but especially on the
north and east sides, its blue limpid waters are encircled by an amphitheatre of
hills, whose slopes are covered with a rich growth of forest trees and lianas. The
shores of this romantic basin present some of the loveliest scenery in Mexico ; but
tin recently few travellers ventured to visit these almost uninhabited regions.

At present a railway runs along the north-east side of the lake, and it has even
been proposed to found a school of navigation on one of the inlets of the inland sea.
Other lakelets dotted over the slopes of the moimtains about the western extremity

MEXICO, CENTRAL AMERICA, WEST INDIES.

of Chapala seem to imply that its basin was formerly far more extensive that at
present ; at that time it appears to hare discharged its overflow westwards through
the valley of the river now flowing towards the Bay of Banderas, and some
engineers have proposed to cut a canal through this old fluvial bed. At the point
where the outlet was situated lava streams descended from the neighbouring
heights in prehistoric times. The issue was thus obstructed, and the waters were
forced to expand into a lake or else considerably to raise their level, and after-
wards seek a new issue through the lowest breach in the cncii'cling hills.

Fig. 20. — Laxe CnAPiiA.
Scale 1 : 1,500,000.

WestoF[.r.„...

in2'2o"

; 30 Miles.

These hills are in fact traversed by the Lcrma through a scries of gorges exca-
vated by erosion in the eruptive rocks. To judge from the extreme irregularity
of its course, this fluvial valley would appear to be of comparatively recent
geological date. Its whole bed is disposed like a gigantic flight of irregular steps,
where the stream develops a continued succession of high cascades and rajjids, all
the way to the vicinity of the coast. These gorges begin with one of the finest
cataracts in Mexico, named Juanacatlan from a neighbouring village. Rushing
over a precipice 65 feet high, the current acquires a tremendous impetus estimated
at 30,000 horse-power, and it is feared that the neighbourhood of Guadalajara may
tempt speculators to convert the falls into a series of reservoirs and mill races.

Desj^ite its abundant discharge, estimated at 4,000 cubic feet per second, the
Lerma is not navigable, and its bed may in many places be easily forded. But its
numerous ravines arc scarcely anywhere accessible to wheeled traffic or even pedes-
trians ; hence roads and tracks have had to be laid do-\vn across the escarpments of
the surrounding mountains.

At Santiago, where the Eio Grande at last emerges on the low-lying coastlands,
it is still 145 feet above sca-lcvel ; it enters the Pacific through a ramifying

TILE MEXICAN EIVERS.

channel just north of San Bias Bay, opposite the Tres Marias islets, which continue
north-westwards the normal trend of the coast, as indicated by the direction of the
shore-line south of Cape Corrientes. The alluvial matter washed down by the
Lerma has filled up a part of the space separating the mainland from this insular
group ; both northwards and southwards the land is encroaching seaward, and the

FijJ. 21. — CoLOILiUO ESTUAET.

Scale 1 : 860,000.

Diipilis.

Oto 5
Fathoms.

5 Fathoms
aud upwards.

Banks exposed
at low tides.

=, 18 Miles.

true coast at the foot of the hills is now washed by shallow lagoons which are pro-
tected by sandy strips from the open sea.

North of the Rio Lerma no other copious rivers reach the Pacific within the
Mexican frontier ; even those which, like the Eio del Fuerte, the Rio Yaqui, and
the Sonera, have large catchment basins, roll down very little water. This is due

MEXICO, CENTRAL AMERICA, WEST INDIES.

to the slight rainfall and long droughts, dui'ing which the springs run dry and
large rivers become impoverished, though their sources lie far inland on the interior
of the plateau, and like the Rio Yaqui even on the eastern slope of the Sierra
Madre. Many noisy torrents rushing through foaming cascades over the heights
of the Sierra Madre fail to reach the sea, and run out in the sands of the lowland
plains. Others, especially in Lower California, are mere wadies which are seldom
flooded, and their stony beds are the only roads in the country. To obtain a little
water oozing up between the shingie deep holes have to be sunk, which are locally
known by the name of bataques. The old estuaries have become salt pans, and the
Rio Colorado, whose lower course alone is comprised within Mexican territory,
resembles the rivers of Souora in the slight amount of its discharge compared with

Kg. 22.~Closed Basins of Mexico.
Scale 1 : EO.OOO.OOO.

Lakes of the closed b.isins.
—^.^—. C20 Miles.

the vast extent of its drainage area ; however, this great watercourse is navigable
for some hundred miles beyond the limits of the common frontier.

All that part of Mexico which is comprised between the two converging
border ranges is also too arid for all its watercourses to unite in perennial streams
and reach the ocean through the Rio Bravo or any other large river. Most of
them, being too feeble to surmoimt the heights enclosing or intersecting the plains,
lose their waters in some shallow lagoon which rises or falls with the seasons. All
the saline basins met in Chihuahua and Coahuila are depressions of this sort formed
by torrents descending from the mountains.

Such is the large Guzman lagoon near the Arizona frontier, where is discharged
the exhausted current of the Rio Casas Grandcs at a lower altitude than the level

CXOSED LACT5TEINE BASINS. 45

of the neighbouring Eio Bravo del Xorte. Other marshy tracts, like the lagoons
of Santa Maria and dos Patos, have a similar origin, and the bed of the Bolson de
Mapimi is also occupied by a closed reservoir, the Tlahualila lagoon.

Farther south the Rio de Xazas, which is a somewhat copious stream in the
upper valleys of the Sierra Candela, is arrested in the Laguna del iluerto, while
the Rio d'Aguanaval does not always reach the Laguna de Parras. In various
parts of these desert spaces occur numerous ojos or " eyes," that is, springs, some
thermal, some cold, but nearly aU richly charged with chemical siibstances.
Several have gradually raised circular margins of siliceous or calcareous deposits
round their orifice, and in some places these accumulations are high enough to
form veritable hillocks. Froebel saw a streamlet flowing from a knoll about thirty
feet high, which had been built up in this way by the water itself.

In the State of San Luis, where the plateau is already divided by the mountain
ranges into numerous small basins, there are no extensive lagoons like those of the
northern provinces ; but this district contains over one hundred small lakes or
rather ponds, nearly all of which have become saline. The plains are largely
covered with various kinds of efflorescences, some composed of saltpetre, others
consisting for the most part of carbonate of soda. They still retain their old Aztec
name of feqitesquite in Mexico, where the smelters use them in treating the various
silver and argentiferous lead ores.

Closed lacustrine basins arc also found in the valleys of the border range south
of the plateau. Such is the Patzcuaro or "Greater Lake," in the State of Mexico,
an island-studded depression encircled on all sides by mountaius, and containing a
slightly brackish, but still potable water. Such is also the Cuitzeo, a deep reser-
voir which is filled by the river Morelia, whose extremely salt water sterilises all
the surrounding lands during the inundations.

But of all these flooded depressions the most remarkable are those from which
the Mexican plateau takes its name of Anahuac, that is, ^\jial-huatl, " Amid the
TTaters," a term afterwards extended to all the upland plains of this region.
These lakes, or rather shallow ponds, are disposed in a chain running north and
south for a distance of about 46 miles ; but their superficial area varies from year
to year and from season to season, so that they present different contour lines on
maps constructed at different periods.

The southern lakes Xochimilco and Chalco really form only a single sheet of
water divided into two basins by a narrow dyke. Thanks to the copious streams
descending from the neighbouring hills this depression has maintained its old
outlines with little change. A canal, nmning northwards to the city of Mexico,
discharges the overflow into Lake Texcoco, which occupies the bed of a periodically
flooded basin from five to seven feet below the level of the capital. The northern
Lakes San Cristobal, Xaltocan, and Zumpango stand like Xochimilco and Chalco
above that level. Hence during the inundations, when the rivulets converge
from the plaiu of Pachuca, descending from basin to basin towards the south, the
city woiild be threatened with total destruction were the embankments to burst
which have been constructed below each reservoir.

46 MEXICO, CEXTEAL AMERICA, WEST INDIES.

From tlic descriptions handed down by the Spanish conquerors, and the
comparative observations made at different epochs, it is evident that the extent
and volume of these Mexican lakes have continued to diminish duiing the last
three hundred and fifty years. The capital was formerly represented as a
" lacustrine city " surrounded by flooded plains, whereas at present it stands on
dry land, the lakes no longer occupying even a third of the " vallej'." They
have also become shallower, and the bed of the Texcoco basin is steadily silting
up with the sands of the plains moving forward under the action of the winds.
Its level woiild even be raised and its contents discharged on the city but for the
excessive evaporation, by which the volume of water is gradually diminishing.
In 1804, at the time of Humboldt's visit, its depth varied from 10 to 16 feet, but
in 1885 it had fallen to 5 feet 6 inches in the deepest parts, with an average
of scarcely more than 2 feet. In 1881 it was even much shallower, little over
12 inches in many places, and in exceptionally dry years Texcoco, San Cristobal,
Xaltocan, and Zumpango have been exhausted. In fact this brackish depression
would have long ago been emptied but for the flow from Chalco and Xochimilco.

It is generally supposed that the local climate has really become drier since
the time of the conquest. The disappearance of the forests from the slopes and
plains would appear to have increased the evaporation by giving greater play to
the winds, without a corresponding increase, perhaps even a decrease, in the
rainfall. At present the contents of the lacustrine basins in the valley of Mexico
are insignificant compared with their volume in a former geological epoch. The
bed of the old lake, that is, the so-called " valley," consists of quaternary debris,
sands, clays, pumice, scoriaj, organic remains, superimposed in successive layers
so thick that they have not yet been pierced by the shafts of an artesian well sunk
to a depth of 1,270 feet. In some places the calcareous strata of lacustrine origin
have yielded spring water at a comparatively slight distance from the surface ; but
elsewhere nothing has been met excejat the quaternary deposits.*

The chemical composition of the Texcoco waters is itself an indication of their
gradual concentration iu a continually narrowing basin. Xochimilco and Chalco
are both fresh-water reservoirs, their contents being constantly renewed ; on the
opposite side of the valley the other small depressions are also flooded with fresh-
water. But the central lake is always brackish even after the heavy rains, when
it covers a considerable surface.

At a remote geological epoch, when the whole valley of Mexico was filled with
fresh water, the overflow was discharged through a breach in the mountains
northwards to the Tula or Montezuma, a headstream of the Panuco river. But

* Supei-ficial area and relative altitude of the lakes iu the VaUoy of Mexico (18G5) : —

Extent.

Height.

sq. miles.

inches.

Texcoco .

. 100 .

77 below the capital

Chalco

. 46 .

48 above

>> !.

Xochimilco

. 2.') .

■ 50 „

San Cristobal .

8 .

• 63 „

Xaltocan .

. 40 .

. 68 „

)» J»

Zumpango

. 10 .

. 165 „

Jt 1)

CLOSED LACrSTEINE BASINS.

during the Listoric period, when a city stood on an island in the central lagoon
at a lower level than several of the separate basins which had formed part of the
original lake, it became necessary to protect the habitations and temples from
the iuundations by which the lower part of the depression might have been

fig-. 23. — Area or the ilExiCAx Laees at ViEiotrs Peeiods.

Scale 1 : 530,000.

fcA ^ .

'','■■ •Aijicn^r:

• ?5t O I Ve^f^wch

IbX).

leoo. 1700. 1S65. Highest Hoods.

Norlhem Lakes in ISSO.

. 13 Miles.

flooded. The Aztecs had accordingly constructed strong defensive works, traces
of which may still be seen near the cities of Ixtapalapa and Guadalupe.

Eut these embankments at last yielded to the pressure, and under the Spanish
rule the capital was for a time exposed to all lacustrine floodings. Towards the
beginning of the seventeenth century the situation became so dangerous tliat it

48 MEXICO, CENTEAL AMERICA, WEST INDIES.

was resolved to run an underground tunnel tHrough the sill which confined the
flood waters on the north side. The viceroy summoned a vast army of Indian
labourers in order to complete the work within a single winter or dry season
from the end of November, 1607, to the middle of May, 1608. The Huehuetoca
or Nechistongo gallery, as it was called, had a total length of 9,000 yards, and a
mean height of 12 feet ; but it was not arched and the soil gave way. The outlet
was completely closed in 16_'9, when a terrific storm burst over the city, flooding
the streets to a depth of 10 feet. All traffic was carried on by boats, and five years
passed before Mexico again stood on dry land. The works had to be resumed,
but were carried on without any general plan and even on mutually destructive
lines, in one place by underground galleries, in another by open cuttings. The
latter system at last prevailed, and in 1789 the great undertaking was com-
pleted.

At several points the channel, excavated between high rocky walls, presents
the appearance of some of the boldest cuttings executed by railway engineers in
modern times. For a length of about 8G0 yards the height of the escarpments
exceeds 165 feet, and the opening of the passage is more than double as wide.
The river Cuautitlan, which discharged into Lake Zumpango a volume of about
400 cubic feet per second, was diverted to this desagi'tc, or emissary, and the
northern lakes also sent their overflow through the same channel.

But the friable parts of the cutting were frequently eroded, filling its bed
with mud and refuse. Hence the works had to be incessantly renewed, and during
the revolutionary wars they were abandoned altogether. Then came the great
floods of 18G6, which threatened to swamp the capital with the swollen con-
tents of the northern lakes rushing through breaches in the embankments, and
during which the channel roUed down a volume of from 1,050 to 1,100 cubic feet
per second. To prevent such a disaster a new emissary was projected, which was
intended to carry off the overflow, not only of the northern lakes, but also that of
Texcoco. But little more than a beginning was made with the gallery six miles
long, by which the waters were to be drained off through the Tequisquiac Mountain.
For twelve years all operations were suspended and not resumed till 1881; at
present there is some prospect of the works being completed in 1893.

But scientific men in Mexico are far from being of accord on the subject of
drainage. According to L. de Belina the important question is not how to drain
the "valley," but on the contrary, how to increase its humidity. Arid, dusty,
and treeless, the surrounding plains must be transformed to a desert unless the
running waters issuing from the uplands are husbanded for irrigation purposes,
and unless the slopes of the hills be replanted to improve the climate and regulate
the annual discharge.

Ci.tMATE — Flora — Fauna.

Taken as a whole the Mexican climate is one of those that present the greatest
contrasts in a narrow space. Here the normal climate, as represented by the
parallels of latitude, is profoundly modified by the elevation of the land, the aspect

CLIMATE OF MEXICO. 49

of the mountain sloiacs, the force and direction of the winds, the distribution and
quantity of the rainfall.

Nevertheless, in certain regions a uniform climate prevails over vast spaces.
Thus the northern states contain extensive plains remote from both oceans, where
the extremes of temperature characteristic of the American Far "West are continued
far to the south on all those plateaux where the prevailing vegetation are the
cactus and thorny plants, which constitute a special zone combining the characfei'S
of both zones.

On the other hand the narrow region of the Tehuantepec isthmus belongs
entirely to the humid tropical zone, even on the mountains which form the divide
between the two oceans. The climatic contrasts caused by the different altitudes
are produced in a large way only in the central part of Mexico, on the Anahuac
plateau and the two border I'anges. The route from Vera Cruz on the Atlantic,
across the plateau between the Puebla and Oaxaca uplands, and down to the
Pacific at Acapulco, is the highway where these sharply contrasted climates may
be studied to the best advantage.

The low-lying maritime zone comprises both the swampy and unfertile sandy
coastlands, and the well-watered plains and first slopes which arc thickly clad
with leafy trees intertwined with festoons of lianas and surmounted by the tufted
crests of tall palms. This is the tierm calimte, the " hot land," where the normal
temperature exceeds 74° F. Some places on the^ Mexican seaboard are in fact
amongst the hottest on the globe. Such is, for instance, the port of La Paz, which
earned for California the name of the "Hot Furnace " given to it by Cortes.

Above the coast zones, one facing the Atlantic, the other the Pacific, follow
the tierras templadas, or "temperate lands," comprised mainly between the
altitudes of 3,000 and 6,000 feet, but rising to a higher elevation in the southern
than in the northern states of the republic. These are the regions which corres-
pond to south-west Europe, at least in their mean temperature, vegetable products
and suitability for settlement by the white race.

The tierras fempladas are succeeded by the ficrras frias, or " cold lands,"
which comprise the plateau proper with the encircling highlands. The less
elevated part of this region, growing maguey and cereals, is the most densely
peopled region in Mexico, whereas on the higher grounds, some of which rise
above the snow line, the climate is too rude to support a forest vegetation, or a
dense human population. Sometimes these higher groimds are grouped together
as a fourth zone distinguished by the name of tierras heladas, or " frozen lands."

In many parts special conditions have placed the different vegetable zones
in close proximity without any graduated transitions. From the suinmit of
certain headlands, occupied exclusively by plants of a European type, the traveller
sees at his feet palm groves and banana thickets. From the crests of the great
volcanoes all three zones may even be seen superimposed one above the other.
Thanks to the increased facilities for rapid travelling, it is now possible in a
single day to traverse the three distinct zones, which elsewhere are separated
one from the other by intervals of manj'' hundreds and even thousands of miles.

VOL. XVII. E

MEXICO, CENTEAL AJSIEEICA, WESI INDIES.

Eut although in some exceptional districts the zones are brought into sharp
juxtaposition, they merge almost everywhere by successive transitions one into
another. It is only in a very general -svay that any given region can be said to
belong to such or such a zone, and the parting line oscillates greatly, especially
about the base of the mountains. A zone of mutual overlapping has been
developed under the thousand modifying conditions of soil, temperature, winds,
the struggle for existence between the various species of plants. Certain glens
and slopes even occur, which, in their vegetation, form tropical enclaves in the
very midst of the temperate zone.

Regarded as a whole, Mexico, which is intersected by the tropic of Cancer

Fig. 21. — Veetioal D1SPOSI130N OF THE M.EXiciy Climates.
Scale 1 : 12,000,000.

102°40 V/est oF GreenwicK 97°40

Warm.

Temperate.

Cold.
. 310 Miles.

almost exactly in the centre, is a hot country. Assuming its mean elevation to be
3,600 feet, the average temperature of these latitudes would be about 60° F., or
nearly the same as that of Nice or Perpignan in the south of France, but far below
that of African regions, such as the Sahara and Nubia, lying under the same parallels.

The Anahuac plateau may be described as a temperate region upheaved
above the tropical zone. It corresponds to the temperate and cold regions of
Abyssinia, which also dominate " hot lands," such as Massawah and the Danakil
territory. But however favoured the Abyssinian plateau may be in its climate,
it is vastly inferior to Mexico in the advantages of position and means of access.

In its latitude, Mexico lies well within the zone of the trade winds, which
blow regularly from north-east to south-west, or from east to west, on the shores

CLIMATE OF MEXICO. 51

of tlie Gulf and the slopes of the mountains. But their normal direction is
frequently modified by the great inequalities of the relief and the trend of the
mountain ranges. The so-called iior/es, or northern gales, which prevail especially
from October to March in the Gulf waters, and which are justly dreaded by
skippers bound for Tampico or Vera Cruz, are nothing more than the trade winds
deflected from their course, and attracted southwards bj^ the heated and rarefied
atmosphere of the low-lying plains of Yucatan. United with the cold current
which sweeps down the Mississijipi, the trades blow with tremendous fury along
the seaboard, the storms often lasting for several daj-s, and even a whole week,
to the great danger of the shipping on these exposed andharbourless coasts. The

Fig-. So. — ISOTHEEJTAXS OF MEXICO MODIFIED BT ALTITITDE.

Scale 1 : 30.000.000.

15'

West dF GreenwicK

• r^

0to50°F. 50' to 59= 69' to 68' 68=10 77° 77° and upwards.

620 Miles.

full force of the norte is scarcely felt on the plateaux, and its strength is completely
exhausted before it reaches the Pacific slope.

The shores of this ocean have also their special atmospheric currents, which
are determined by the disposition of the coastline, and the form and elevation of
the neighbouring mountains. At irregular intervals during the sxmimer the aiid
and superheated plateaux attract the aerial masses from the equatorial waters, and
the Slexican uplands are at least once a year visited by sudden squalls sweeping
along the Columbian and Central American seaboard. At times they assume the
character of a veritable cyclone, blowing in a few hours from every point of the
compass. In 1839, one of these gales wrecked twelve vessels in the port of
Mazatlan ; and llanzanillo, the Port of Colima, was destroyed by another in 1881.

52 MEXICO, CENTEAL AMERICA, WEST INDIES.

The southerly or south-easterly storms, which have received from the missionaries
the curious name of Covdonazo dc San Francisco, or " Scourge of St. Francis,"
rarely penetrate far into the interior, although a town of Michoacan, near the
verge of the central Mexican uplands, has with good reason been named Ario,
that is, the " Stormy " in the Tarascan language.

On the west side, the prevailing currents are the so-called papaffai/os, or north-
easterly trades, and the south-western monsoons, that is, the trades of the southern
hemisphere attracted to the north of the equator, and deflected from their original
course.

Owing to the contrasts in the relief of the land, the differences of temperature,
and the irregularity of the winds, the rainfall is distributed very unequally through-
out Mexico, though it is chiefly regulated according to the seasons. Towards the
middle of May, when the sun stands near the zenith of the northern hemisphere,
the rains begin to fall. The clouds, following the track of the sun along the
ecliptic, discharge frequent torrential downpours, at least on the slopes facing
seawards. Usually, the approaching storm is indicated by a great black cloud
rising from the sea " like a huge torso with half -mutilated limbs." It is locally
called the giganfon, or " Giant," who will soon swallow up all the heavens. In
the afternoon the clouds are rent asunder, and Ht up by flashes of lightning
accompanied with thunder, in which the ancient Aztecs recognised the voice of
the god Tepeyolotl, or " Heart of the Mountain," rumbling in long echoes over
the hills. The sudden downpours are followed by rain lasting usually till
nightfall. Then it clears up, and by dawn the wiads have already dried the
ground.

On the Mexican j^'^^tcau the tropical rains, brought by the north-easterly
winds, fall regularly only during the four months from June to September, and
the showers generally last less than an hour. The rains are also interrupted,
especially in July and August, by numerous fine days, and even by weeks of dry
weather, " St. Anne's Spring," as it is then called. They cease altogether in Octo-
ber, when winter begins, which however presents some of the features of a Euro-
pean summer ; hence its name of estio, " summer," or finnjw de secas, " dry season."

It is the lack of moisture in the groimd, rather than the low temperature,
that strips the trees of their foliage, and thus imparts a wintry aspect to the land-
scape. But the lofty ranges also assimie their snowy mantle at an altitude of
13,000, and even 12,500 feet. In exceptional j*ears, the Ahualco Pass (11,520
feet) has been covered with snow all the way from Popocatepetl to Ixtaccihuatl,
and a few flakes have even at times fallen so low as Morelia (6,400 feet).

Numerous irregularities, however, are everywhere caused by the differences
in the relief and aspect of the land. Thus two contiguous districts will some-
times have a totally different distribution of moisture. In certain regions, notably
the temperate zone of Jalapa and Orizaba, from 1,500 to 8,000 feet high, the
vapours brought by the northern winds are condensed In fogs which lie on the
surface and precipitate a fine but persistent mist. This Is the so-called chipicJiipi,
which is awaited with impatience by the natives, for whom it is the essential

CLIMATE,— FLOE A. 53

condition of prosperity, tlie salutl del puchlo. During its i^revalence the sun
remains clouded generallj- for a period of about eight da)^s.

At all times the rainfall is more copious in the southern j)rovinces, where the
land is contracted between the Atlantic and Pacitic inlets, and where the sun twice
crosses the zenith of the earth. Here the annual fall ranges from 80 to 120 inches,
gradually diminishing thence northwards to the regions beyond the tropic of
Cancer. Thus in Sonora the rains scarcely begin before the month of Juh', and
are frequeutl}" interrupted during the normal season. Those northern regions
especially which lie between the two main ranges have a very dry climate, the
moisture-bearing clouds being here intercepted by the slopes of the Sierra Madrcs.
On these excessively arid plateaux a disjDlay of extremely vivid sparks is often
produced by the friction of two hard bodies. A continuous crepitation or crackling
sound is sometimes even heard escaping from all the rugosities of the rocky soil.

As a whole the Mexican climate, if not one of the healthiest, is certainly one
of the most delightful in the world. The zone of " temperate lands " on both
oceanic slopes enjoj's an " everlasting spring, " being exposed neither to severe
winters nor to intolerable summer heats ; in every glen flows a rippling stream ;
every human abode is embowered in a leafy vegetation, and here the native plants
are intermingled with those of Europe and Africa. Each traveller in his turn
describes the valley in A^hich he has tarried longest as " the loveliest in the world,"
that nowhere else the snowy crests or smoking volcanic cones rise in more im-
posing grandeur above the surrounding sea of verdure all carpeted with the
brightest flowers. In these enchanting regions there is still room for millions
and millions of human beings.*

The Mexican flora is, so to say, a living illustration of its climate, for the
plants thrive or droop according to the varied conditions of temperature, aspect,
and moisture. From the character of the vegetation the botanist knows at once
whether the heat or cold is excessive, the oscillations of the thermometer mode-
rate or extreme, the rainfall abundant or slight. In these respects Mexico presents
the greatest contrasts, deserts and steppes alternating with scrub, and mighty
forests bound together in an inextricable tangle of creepers and undergrowths.

In the northern regions the rocky Chihuahua and neighbouring provinces,
where rain seldom falls, have an extremely sparse vegetation, consisting of greyish
thorny plants with largo hard leaves, a vegetation which adds little to the

* Meteorological conditions of some Mexican stations taken in the dii-ection from north to south : —

StationK T^aHtude Height. Mean EainfaU.

ftianons. J^atituae. j-^^j Temperature. Inches.

Monterey (1888) .... 25° 40' 1,036 70= F. 137

Mazatlan (six years) . . 23° 11' 150 76° 39

Zacatecas (1888) .... 22° 47' 8,100 58° 19

San Luis Potosi (2 years) . 22° 05' 6,230 62° 16

Leon (1888) 21° 7' 5,920 65° 35

Guanajuato (1888) ... 21° 1' 6,645 63° 33

Guadalajara (6 years) . . 20° 41' 5,180 72° 34

Mexico (12 years) . . . 19° 26' 7,400 60° 30

CoUma (15 years) ... 19° 12' 1,655 78° 42

Puebla (2 years) .... 19° 7,110 60° 39

Oaxaca (1879) .... 17° 3' 5,108 67° 38

54 MEXICO, CENTRAL AMEEICA, WEST INDIES.

general aspect of the landscape. Nevertheless in spring their arid plains are
suddenly decked with many-coloured flowers, the mezquito shrub is covered
with a pale yellow blossom, clusters of white bells shoot up from amid the glossy
foliage of the jaicca, the shingly tracts are enlivened by the bright red petals of
the mamillaria. Thanks to its soft velvety turf, Europe may have more cheerful,
but assured!}' not more brilliant, grassy meads.

But this " flowery season " is soon over, and nature presently resumes its dull
and sullen aspect, relieved here and there only by a few thickets of delicate green
thorny shrubs. The prevailing species are the mezqultes (algarrobia glandulosa),
for the most jjart very different from those found in the United States, but, like
them, still exuding a substance resembling gum-arabic. In New Mexico they are
mere bushes whose stems branch off directh* from the root ; in south Texas they
develop into shrubs ; but within Mexican' territory, and especially in Sonora, they
assume the proportions of veritable trees, here and there grouped in large groves.

Elsewhere, notably on the slopes of the "Western Sierra Madre, in the states
of Chihuahua, Sonora and Sinaloa, the oak is the prevailing species ; hence the term
encinal, or " oak lands," applied in these regions to any extensive wooded tracts.
The term chaparral, which, strictly speaking, should be applied only to the deci-
duous oak, is in the same way given by the northern Mexicans to all spaces under
scrub or brushwood ; in ordinary language every grove or thicket is a chajDarral,
even where the mezquites and large cactus are the dominant types.

Except along the river banks fringed by poplars and willows, the only woody
plants in certain northern regions of Mexico are the cactus. Of these the most
remarkable are the pifa/ia/jas, which assume the form of thorny fluted columns. The
branches stand out at right angles from the stem, and then grow parallel with it, thus
forming prodigious candelabra, some of which are 3-5 or 40 and even 60 feet high.

Other species are reckoned by the hundred which have adapted themselves to
the arid climate by developing an abundance of sap in their thick leaves, and
protecting themselves against animals by thorny armour. Amongst these fantastic
plants there are some which at a distance might be taken for blocks of greenish stone.

In certain places the ground is completely carpeted as by a kind of green
sward with dwarf agaves, which are still known by their old Aztec name, ixtk or
ia;tli. The larger species of this useful plant, whose fibre is used for weaving
coarse textile fabrics, and whose sap serves for the preparation of brandy and other
national drinks, flourish especially in the inland states of San Luis Potosi,
Zacatecas, Durango, Aguascalientcs, and even on the colder plateaux. In many
districts the general character of the scenery is determined by these agave planta-
tions, with their enormous thorny leaves, associated with hedges of other species,
such as the organos, so named from their resemblance to the pipes of an organ.

The three superimposed zones, ranging from the foot of the mountains to the
upland valleys of the plateaux, are characterised by special types, which impart
to the several floras their distinctive features. Thus on the coastlands of the hot
zone arc seen extensive savannahs of dense herbage, magnificent palm groves and
all the trees of the Antilles noted for their fruits or flowers, their wood, bark or

FLORA OP MEXICO.

essences. Higher up follow those glorious woodlands where the European and
tropical floras are everywhere intermingled ; here flourish the coffee shrub, the
banana, the orange, and especially maize and beans, which supply the staple diet of
the inhabitants. Then comes the cold region, yielding wheat ; a cereal, however,
which is here of far less economic value than maize.

On the plateaux the prevailing trees are the oak and pine, the former between
the altitudes of 5,000 and 8,500 feet, the latter rising from 8,000 to above 13,000 feet.
On most of the higher crests the conifers reach or even exceed the altitude of
13,500 feet. They are the last arborescent trees that grow on the flanks of the
mountains, the space between them and the lower limit of perpetual snow being

Fig. 2G. — Vegetable Zones in Mexico.
Scale 1 : 30,000,000.

Alpine Flora. Finns pondcrosi Prairie Flora. Sequoia,

audedulis.

Cere us
piganteue.

Algarrobia
glanduloaa.

Pinus Quercus crassifolia Hfematoxylon Deserts,

Australia. and reticulata. campechianum.

G20 Miles.

exclusively occupied by short herbage and grasses. But owing to the overlapping
of the vegetable zones of different temperatures, the pines of the uplands have
almost everywhere encroached upon the temperate regions, and have even descended
below the line of 3,500 feet.

The dominant types of trees are represented by a great number of si^ccies, about
seventy-five varieties of the oak having been found on the slopes of Orizaba alone.
The ahiiehuetes or "cypresses " of Chapultepec, Atlisco, Oaxaca, which belong to
the same species as those of Louisiana {ta.rodium cUsiicJium), grow to a colossal size;
they are classed by Humboldt with the giants of the vegetable kingdom.

5G MEXICO, CENTRAL AMERICA, WEST INDIES.

Many of the numerous species of the Mexican flora have found a home in the
eastern hemisphere. Fi'om Mexico comes the chocolate ph'int, which has pre-
ser\-ed its Aztec name ; a species of arachis, the cacahuate, which also retains its
native designation in a modified form ( tlacacahuatl) ; the jjine- apple, the tomato
{tomatl of the Indians) ; the agave, and the various species of cactus, jalap, sarsa-
parilla and other medicinal plants, balsams, gums, and resins. Both the potato
and tobacco are also indigenous to Mexico.

The European gardens, orchards, and conservatories are being continually en-
riched by exotics from Mexico ; the naturalist Poyet alone has introduced into
France as many as sixty species of fruit trees and ornamental plants from the
single province of Jalapa. On the other hand all foreign species maj' be acclima-
tised in the vast " botanical garden " formed by the successive terraces which rise
from the seaboard at Vera Cruz or Mazatlan to the ujjlands of Guadalajara and
Zacatccas. The banana, whose name is of Sanskrit origin, and which has no
original designation in any American language, was probably introduced into the
New World through the Canaries and Ilaiti. Wheat was brought by a negro
slave belonging to Cortes, and Bernard Diaz tells us how he himself planted seven
or eight orange pips which grew to be fine plants, the " first " in Mexico. The
conquerors also planted the first vine in this fertile soU, where every industry
depending on the products of the vegetable kingdom might be practised.

At a comparatively recent epoch, that is, during tertiary and quaternary times,
the Mexican fauna comprised several species of large quadrupeds comparable in
size to those of the Old World. Bernard Diaz had alreadj- noticed certain " giants'
bones," which he attributed to the predecessors of the Aztecs, and to similar finds
are due such names as cerro, Ionia or Uano del (jigante, now occurring in various parts
of the republic. These remains, which have from time immemorial been used in the
native pharmacopoeia, and which appear to be really efiicacious in several maladies,
are for the most part those of mastodon.?, rhinoceroses, elephants, deer, and horses.
Under the Tequisquiac hill, north of Mexico, a new species of gigantic armadillo
has been discovered, which has been named the gli/pfodoii clavipcs.

The present Mexican fauna belongs, like its flora, to the North American zone, so
Ear as regards the plateau regions, and to the Antilles in respect of the coastland
round the Gulf, while that of the Pacific seaboard is intermediate between the
Califoruian and South American. In the general aspect of its terrestrial animals,
Mexico is connected more with the United States, whereas in its marine forms
the reverse movement has taken place. Thus the prevailing species in the Gulf of
Mexico as far as Tamaulipas and Texas, and the Pacific coast northwards to
Sonora and Lower California, have migrated from South America. The species in
the two oceanic basins differ almost completely, and despite the proximity of the
Pacific and Atlantic shores, their shells are quite distinct.

In the hot lowlands, where the atmosphere is most charged with vapours, are
concentrated the largest number of genera and species ; but this maj' be due to the
fact that here the populations are less dense, and the work of extermination conse-
quently less advanced than in the temperate regions. Three species of monkeys

FAUNA OF MEXICO. 57

dwell in the tropical forests, where the vampire hangs from the boughs of the
trees, and the humming-bird, the " solar beam " of the old Mexicans, flits from
flower to flower. Every town has its organised bands of " scavenger " vultures,
(cat/tarfcs atvatus, zopilote or black vulture), while the king zopilote or white vul-
ture {sarcoramjjJius papa) holds sway in the rural districts ; when the royal bird
swoops down on the carrion, the other species stand respectfully round, awaiting
their turn to share in the banquet.

In the thickets have their lair the pon^erful carnivora, puma, jaguar or tiger-
cat, as well as the tapir, largest of the Mexican ungulata. All the emydida?,
terrapins or mud tortoises, are found in the shallow marine waters along the coasts,
while the lagoons, and especially the fluvial estuaries, are infested by the alligator ;
the seashore and forests of the coastlands are also the haunts of the gecko, basi-
lisk and iguana. A large number of the snake family, poisonous or harmless, is
confined to the hot zone, which also swarms with batrachians ; here are found most
of the numerous characteristic species of toads and salamanders.

The waters of the estuaries and coast streams teem with fishes, all the numerous
varieties of which difEer on the two oceanic slopes, but still present a certain analogy
in their general distribution. The marshy plains and dark forests of the hot lande
are also infested bj' clouds of mosquitoes. To escape from his tormentors the ox
plunges into the nearest quagmire, leaving muzzle alone exposed ; on this presently
alights the pretty little " commander " bird, which lives on mosquitoes, and thus the
unwieldy beast and dainty winged creature combine against the common enemy.

The temperate lands have also their special fauna, and certain species of snakes
and tortoises are found only in this zone ; such is the boa-imperator which ranges
to an altitude of over 4,000 feet, and whose deified image formerly adorned the
temples of the Aztecs. Specially characteristic of the northern provinces which
form a prolongation of the American Far West, are the lizards met nowhere else
in Mexico. TTithin a recent period bisons were still seen on the uplands of Chi-
huahua, but this animal has disappeared altogether from the Xorth Mexican
provinces.

On one occasion Froebel witnessed the passage of a herd of antelopes, num-
bering at least a thousand head, in the neighbourhood of Lake Encinillas in the
north-west of Chihuahua. The grey bear of Oregon, and the wild sheep, preyed
upon by three species of the coyote, by tlie puma and the jaguar, also penetrate
into North Mexico and Lower California, as do also the Virginian opossum and
the prairie marmot. The peccary dwells in the forests, and lays waste the neigh-
bouring plantations. This animal is much dreaded for the furious way a whole
herd will sometimes precipitate itself on the wayfarer.

But of all the Mexican fauna, two only have been domesticated : the huaholoil
{meleagris mexicana), which is a species of duck, and the turkey, introduced into
Europe by the Spaniards from the ""West Indies," hence by the French called
" coq d'Inde." The techichi, an edible dumb dog, was soon exterminated when
taxed by the Spanish authorities. The other farmyard animals have all been intro-
duced into Mexico by the conquerors.

68 MEXICO, CENTRAL Ai£EEICA, WEST INDIES.

Scorpions are one of the plagues on the plateaux, where the fields are also
ravaged by various species of acrita. The nights in the tropical zone are lit up at
night by the firefly (cociiijos), flitting and flashing in the air like coruscations.
The ant is represented by numerous species, one of the commonest of which are the
arrieros, or "muleteers" (cecodoma mexicana), who excavate their crater-like habi-
tations in the hardest rock.

One of the most interesting of the lower organisms observed by naturalists on
the Anahuac plateau is the curious axolotl, which has been the subject of pro-
found studies in connection with the theory of evolution. It aboimds especially
in the saline and sodic waters of Lake Texcoco, and has rarely been met in other
parts of the New World. It is a species of amphibious lizard, furnished with
bronchial tufts or gills, but liable to such Protean changes that its classification
presented great difficulties to the first observers of this eccentric creature. They
gave it all sorts of scientific names, even that of lusus aquarum, " sport of the
waters," and it was then constituted a separate genus under the title of siredon.

Nevertheless, many zoologists already pronounced it to be the larval form of a
large species of anib/i/stoiiie, and this view was at last proved to be correct by
Dumeril, who gradually transformed the axolotl to an arablystome. Most of the
axolotls remain for several generations in the larval or tadpole state, and a few
only develop into the perfect animal. The Indians consider its flesh a great
luxury, and they also greedily devour the eggs deposited by two species of the
axayacatl fly (especially the corixa femovata) amongst the sedge of the Mexican
lakes. These eggs are pounded and mixed with other ingredients to form cakes, and
nests of other larva;, clustered together like sponges, are also eaten. According to
Virlet d'Aoust the eggs of the axayacatl deposited on the bed of lakes, hardens to
a kind of oolitic limestone exactly similar to that of the oolites of the Jura, which
were probably formed in the same way.

The marine waters on both sides of Mexico abound in animal life. Amongst
the cetaceans that visit its shores are some manatees. Hundreds of new species of
molluscs have been discovered on the Pacific side, amongst others the aptisia
(Icpilans, which would aj^pear to be the same as that from which the Tyrians
extracted their purple dye. The Indians of Tehuan tepee use it for dyeing their
fibres, without requiring a mordant to fix the colour.

In the Gulf of California, and especially near Paz and the neighbouring archi-
pelagoes, extensive beds of jDearl oysters are fished. Some other islands in the same
gulf are frequented by myriads of various species of aquatic birds, and have already
yielded many hundred cargoes of guano.

It is noteworthy that the Pacific islands lying at some distance from the coast
have all a fauna different from that of the mainland. Thus the little Tres-Marias
group, about 60 miles off the coast of Jalisco, has a special species of humming-
bird. The Revilla-Gigedo archipelago also forms a separate zoological zone, and
the island of Guadalupe, 155 miles distant from Lower California, has eleven
species of land birds, every one of which differs from the corresponding species on
the adjacent continent.

TXHABITANTS OP MEXICO. 69

Inhabitants of Mexico.

The hypotheses that hare hem advanced regarding the origin of the various
populations found hy the Spaniards in Mexico at the time of the conquest are
ahnost as numerous as the works written on the ethnology of this region.
Naturally, the early writers, being obliged to harmonise their fancies with the
Biblical texts, had to trace the Mexicans back to one of Noah's sons, arriving either
by sea with the waters of the Deluge or by land after the subsidence of the flood.

Even during the present century certain authors have endeavoured to show
that these natives are descended from the Jews " dispersed over the earth " after
the Babylonian captivity. According to them, the kinship is attested bj' the
physical appearance, the national character, the religious manners, customs, myths,
traditions, even the very language of the Mexican nation. Other writers sought
in classical antiquity, amongst the Egyptians, Phoenicians, or Carthaginians, for
some indications of a former immigration into the New "World, and Plato's
Atlantis could not be overlooked in the conjectural history of the old Mexican
races. " The Atonatiuh, that is to say, the Atlantides," says Alfredo Chavero,
" are the mother people of the civilised nations of Europe and America ; the
Spaniards and the Toltecs alike descend from them." Brasseur de Bourbourg even
fancied he had made out from the Xahuatl manuscript known as the Codex Cliimal-
j}ojMca that an " eruption of volcanoes stretching over the whole extent of the
American continent, which was at that time double its present size, blew up the
globe, and between two risings of the morning star engulfed the richest regions of
the earth." Fortunately, the Atlantides of the present Mexico escaped the
disaster, and survived to record it on those monuments of American literature
and architecture which no savant had hitherto been able to interpret.

But putting aside these vagaries, the most accepted hypothesis, expounded under
various forms by Guignes, Humboldt, Prescott, Quatrefages, and Hamv, regards
the Mexicans as immigrants from Asia, arriving either by Bering Strait or the
Aleutian Islands, or else directly across the ocean, or from group to group of the
Polynesian Islands. The relative proximity of the two continents of Asia and
North America, and the imdoubted fact that Japanese junks had actually been
cast ashore on the Califoi"nian seaboard during the historic period, could not fail
to suggest such views, and commend them to the serious consideration of many
superficial enquirers. There is, however, no authentic proof that the mysterious
region where grows ihefusaiig, and which was supposed to have been discovered
by a Chinese expediiion at the beginning of the seventh century, is really Mexico
or Central America ; nor does the description of the country given by the old
Chinese writer agree very well with that of the Anahuac plateau, still less with
the habits and customs of the natives as described by the Spanish conquerors.

The religion of the Aztecs differs also too profoundly from Buddhism or any
other east Asiatic system to recognise in it the teachings of any Chinese mission-
aries. On the other hand the fancied coincidences of symboKcal signs and figures
are far too vague to establish anything more than the faintest presumption ia

GO MEXICO, CENTEAL AMEEICA, WEST INDIES.

favour of former relations between peoples separated from eacL. other by tbe broad
waters of the Pacific. The communications that may have taken place at various
epochs, and even the resemblances noticed between the Mexicans and Chinese,
can in no way justify the assumption of the common origin of the two races, or
even of their cultures. As far as history and tradition go back, the Mexican
lands have always been inhabited ; whether aborigines or not, these populations
would have been spoken of by the Greeks as "autochthones," or indigenous.

As in other places, such as the neighbourhood of Puj', in the south of France,
geologists have also discovered the fossil remains of a quaternary man on the
Anahuac plateau, near the city of Mexico. These interesting remains, dating
from an epoch long anterior to Aztec civilisation, were brought to light in 1884
at the foot of the Pehon de los Bancs in the saline plains formerly flooded by the
waters of Lake Texcoco to the east of the capital. The bones were found
in the vegetable humus imder a layer of lava in association with some kitchen
refuse.

The osteoloo-ical characters of this fossil Mexican man are the same as those of
the pure indigenous race of Anahuac, in which the canine teeth scarcely differ
from the incisors. The man of Penon was contemporaneous with the elephant,
deer and horse which inhabited the same region at a time when the level of the
waters in the Texcoco lagoon was 10 feet higher than at present, and when vol-
canic eruptions anterior to history had not yet taken place.

Elsewhere, flints or cherts, evidently worked by the hand of man, have been
found amongst deposits also containing the teeth and other remains of the Ameri-
can elephant (elephan Colomhi). These primitive races must consequently have
flourished many thousand years before the present time.

At a time when Rome was hastening to its fall, and the barbaric peoples of
North Europe were overrunning the empire, the Anahuac tableland in Central
America was already the seat of an advanced civilisation. Doubtless, it is far
from easy to classify peoples as barbarous or civilised according to their various
degrees of culture ; but the latter term, which has so often a purely conventional
meaning, may justly be applied to the Aztecs, or Mexicans, as well as to the
Mayas of Yucatan, the Chibchas (Miiiscas), Quichuas, and Aymaras of Soutli
America. It might even be extended to the Pueblo Indians, and perhaps to other
native communities in North America.

Amongst the loss advanced nations, whom thej', nevertheless, resembled in
their political and social evolution, the Mexicans were distinguished by their
national cohesion, by their highly developed economic system, their arts and
sciences, as well as the knowledge of numerous technical processes enabling them
to facilitate labour. Like the early civilisations of the Old "World, such as
those of Egypt, Chaldasa, India, and China, that of Mexico took its rise at some
distance from the ocean on the uplands encircled by lofty border ranges or steep
escarpments. It had neither a Nile nor a Euphrates, by which the riverain
populations could be merged in a compact nation ; but it had its lakes, far more
extensive than at present, whose shifting levels, periodical floods and subsidences

IXHABITANTS OF MEXICO. CI

Imposed on tlie inhabitants the necessity of co-operation, of mutual aid and soli-
darity, in which lie the germs of all progress.

Nevertheless, compared with the early historic civilisations of the eastern
hemisphere, that of ^Mexico had the disadvantage of remaining, if not completely
isolated, at least almost entirely encircled by barbai-ic communities. It lacked the
proximity of other centres of progressive life, with which to exchange those recip-
rocal influences whence might spring another and a higher culture. Despite the
vertical disposition of the climates, rendering the hot lands highly dangerous for
the inhabitants of the plateaux, the Aztecs had doubtless established distant rela-
tions with the 3Iayas and the various groups of Nahuas dispersed over Central
America ; but elsewhere they were cut off from contact with all cultured peoples,
imtil their seclusion was suddenly and violently invaded by the Spanish conquerors.
Henceforth, civilisations and races became forcibly intermingled.

So rapid was the work of destruction which followed the first arrival of the
Spaniards that antiquarians might well have feared the complete disappearance
of all documents relating to the ancient history of Mexico. Such records were
often deliberately destroyed, as by Archbishop Zumarraga at Tlatelulco, Xufiez
de la Vega at Chiapa, and others who, aping the zeal of Paul at Ephesus,
burnt, as suspected of necromancy, all the Mexican works they could discover.
Later they were satisfied with concealing the precious manuscripts, which they
kept locked up in their libraries, neither able nor willing to make any use of
them.

Fortunately the ancient lore had been kept alive in a few noble families allied
by marriage with the Spanish conquerors. The aid of these men could thus be
secured in the later attempts made to restore the annals of Anahuac. Many
natives contributed in this way to rescue from oblivion the early records of
the Aztecs and the allied peoples. In the year 1-348 Tadeo de Xiija, an Indian of
Tlaxcala, at the request of the viceroy, composed a history of the conquest, which
was attested by the signatures of thirty Tlaxcaltec nobles.

Gabriel d'Ayala, of Texcpco, wrote in the Aztec language a history of Mexico
from the year 1243 to 1-362. Contributions to the history of her native land,
now unfortunately lost, were even made by a Mexican lady, Maria Bartola,
Princess of Ixtapalapa. Several pure or half-blood natives, such as Tezozomoc,
Chimalpahin and Camargo, have also left important historic manuscripts ; lastly
the family of the Ixtlilxochitls, descended from the old kings of Mexico and
Teotihuacan, had several representatives amongst the national historians, and one
of them, Fernando de Alva Cortes, had even the courage to exalt his ancestry and
denounce the "frightful cruelties '' of the conquerors of Mexico.

But even amongst the Spanish missionaries men were found who recognised
something more in Mexican history than the artifices of the devil, and who went
to the trouble to procure explanations of the pictorial records, and collect the
ancient traditions of the people. Such were Bartolome de las Casas, Sahagun and
Torquemada. The historians of the present century have also been able to throw
further light on the pre-Columbian history of the Mexicans, thanks to the

62 MEXICO, CENTRAL AMERICA, WEST INDIES.

discovery of new manuscripts, the partial interpretation of the hieroglj'phics, and
a more careful study of the early writers.

Aided by these resources the student may now roughly trace the sequence of
events for at least a thousand years before the conquest, and dimly contemplate
the first glimmerings of national life amongst the Mexican populations. At this
epoch the land was already occupied by most of the half-civilised Indian nations,
such as the Otomi, Chichimecs, Huaxtecs, Totonacs, Mixtecs and Zapotecs, by
whom it is still inhabited, and according to the national tradition, it was in their
midst that the Nahuas, that is, the " Clear-spoken People," made their appearance
in the twofold capacity of conquerors and civilisers.

These intruders, coming from the " Seven Caves " of the north, divided into
seven tribes, each with seven sub-divisions, and advancing southwards in seven
successive expeditions, had to vanquish a race of giants before securing possession
of the " Terrestrial Paradise." Then the demi-god, Quetzalcoatl, a mythical
legislator, coming iip from the sea, appeared amongst them, and after instructing
them in the arts, sciences and social institutions, suddenly disappeared with a
promise some day to return. This was the long-awaited Messiah, and when
Cortes emerged, as it were from the bosom of the deep, and presented himself
at the head of his followers, the prophecy was supposed to be at last fulfilled, and
the people looked forward to the dawn of a new millennium.

The sixth century of the new era is usually regarded as about the time when a,
group of Nahuas arrived in Anahuac, after a long series of wanderings from
Huehue-Tlapallan, a city or region which the commentators have hitherto failed
to identify. Some place it in the north, others to the south, of Mexico. Never-
theless, most of the indications point to the northern regions as the cradle of the
Nahua race ; the very form of the Mexican tableland, broadening out northwards,
and contracting southwards to a labyrinth of separate districts, shows the direction
in which the migrations must have taken place. The whole group of these con-
quering Nahua tribes is represented in the legends as issuiug from the " White
Dove of Cloudland," a personification of the northern regions.

Towards the close of the seventh century, the Nahuas, commonly designated
under the name of Toltecs, are already found grouped round a city constituting
the centre of their power. Modern archccologists have rediscovered this city in
the ruins of Tollan, now known by the name of Tula, which lies fifty miles, by
railway, north-west of Mexico.

These early Nahua invaders were themselves replaced by others of the same
race, vanquishers of the Quinames, or " Giants." The Olmecs and Xicalancs, as
they were called, are represented as coming from the east, where they had doubt-
less already constructed several of those monuments which were later attributed
to succeeding tribes of different speech. In any case there can bo no doubt that
the so-called Toltec epoch Was one of the richest in works which still attest the
culture of these early Nahua peoples. The very word toUccatl, whatever its
original meaning, had become synonymous with a craftsman of skill and taste, an
"artist," as we should say. The same term was also applied to those traders

ESTSABITANTS OF MEXICO.

\vho made long joiirnevs to distant lands, and vrho were tlie " torehbearers " of
JS'ahua civilisation in Central America.

Altogether it would seem probable that " Toltec " was not the name of any
particular people, and that the " artists " were simply Nabuas like their Aztec
successors. The term Colhua, or " ancestors," which is also applied to them, is
also an indication of tbeir common ethnical unity.

The Tula domination lasted till the second half of the eleventh century, when
the strength of the powerful Xahua tribes was for the first time broken by
intestine strife, foreign wars, and the invasion of the Chichimecs, or Barbarians,

Fig. 27. — EsTEST or the Aztec CosairEsra.

Scale 1 ; 13,000,iX)0.

Aztec Conqiiests.

. 1S6 Miles.

accompanied by famine and pestilence. The chronicles speak of milHons perishing
amid all these disorders, and, for whatever reason, after this date no further
mention is made of the " Toltecs," or else they are represented as fugitives
dispersed amongst the surrounding populations, or else going southwards to found
new states in Yucatan, Chiapas, or Guatemala.

Numerous migrations are also related of the Chichimecs, who displaced the
centre of Xahua power southwards to the Anahuac plateau properly so called,
first to the shores of Lake Xaltocan, then to the plains around Lake Texcoco not
far from the present confederate capital. Lastly, the royal residence was estab-

6i MEXICO, CENTRAL AMERICA, WEST INDIES.

lished at Texcoco or Acolhuacan, tic "Ancestral City"; but in 1325 the rival
city of Mexico-Tenochtitlan rose on an island amid the waters of the lake.

The Aztec founders of this place were themselves of the same Nahua race as
their Toltec and Chichimec predecessors. They had reached the Anahuac plateau
towards the close of the twelfth century, having a hundred and twenty-five years
previously quitted their insular home of Aztlan, which has not yet been identified
with certaint}- by geographers. During those years of wanderings they had dwelt
in the mj'thical land of Chicomoztoc, that is, the " Seven Caves," and traversed
many strange regions in search of the " Land of Promise." The legend also speaks
of them as the " inventors of fire," that is, as an ingenious people, rivalling the
Toltecs in their knowledge of the arts and sciences.

Thanks to its insular position, easily defended against all sudden attack, the
lacustrine city grew rajjidl}-, and round it were formed the famous chinampas, or
floating gardens, which supplied the people with provisions during times of siege.
Even after it was divided into two hostile towns, the old and democratic Tenochtit-
lan and the modern trading town of Tlatelulco, it continued to develop rapidly,thanks
to the inflow of immigrants from all parts, seeking refuge in these sti'ongholds.

"When the Chichimec ascendency was finally destroyed, in 1431, by intestine
wars and the revolt of the oppressed populations, Mexico succeeded to the power
hitherto exercised by Texcoco. It stood at the head of the confederacy formed by
the three cities of Mexico, Texcoco, and Tlacopan.

Under the hegemony of the A-ztec capital their conquests soon spread beyond
the limits of Anahuac proper. The annals of this period, which agree on all the
essential points, despite the partial accounts of writers of different nationalities,
describe the Mexicans as reducing the surrounding populations for the twofold
purpose of increasing their store of gold, precious stones, and ornamental feather-
work, and procuring victims for the altars of their gods. "Westwards they failed
to subdue the tribes of Michoacan, and towards the north-west they scarcely
advanced beyond the limits of the Anahuac valley. But in the direction of the
south and south-east they had conquered the whole region as far as the coast, from
the mouth of the Panuco to the Alvarado bar. But on the plateau they left the
independent nation of the Tlaxcalans, who, with hundreds of revolted tribes, greatly
facilitated the overthrow of the Mexican empire by the Spanish invaders.

Prodigies and scourges of all kinds, say the chronicles, foreboded the approaching
ruin of the Aztec power, which had already been seriously threatened by the insur-
rection of its own subjects, when Cortes and his Tlaxcalan allies presented them-
selves before the doomed capital. Nevertheless the name of this opulent city has
been extended not only to all the surrounding territorj', but also to an aggregate
of provinces or states far more extensive than the empire of Montezuma. The
term " Mexican," formerly restricted to a fraction of the Aztecs, themselves
merely one of the numerous branches of the Nahua race, is now claimed by a great
nation of about twelve million souls.

The Spanish conquerors could not fail to recognise in Mexico an empire like
that of their native land, where the will of a potent ruler was implicitly obeyed

MEXICAN CULTUEE. 65

throughout his wide dominions, where he nominated the provincial governors,
imposed tribute and levied troops. They fancied that here also aU. authority-
emanated from the imperial power which was regularly maintained in the same
dynasty by a sort of right divine. They were unable to understand that the
Aztecs, after having lived in family commimities without any private ownership
of the soil, had established a military democracy formed of kindred groups who
selected their own "speakers," that is, chiefs.

Surprised, on the other hand, to find in the New World a great city, larger and
wealthier than their own capitals, the conquerors naturally exaggerated the
resources of Mexico and the culture of its inhabitants. Nevertheless certain docu-
ments relating to the native language, the sciences and the art of transmitting
thought, the care also bestowed on agriculture and irrigation, lastly, the objects
preserved in our museums, and the monuments still standing in the neighboui'hood
of the cities or buried under dense forest growths, make it evident that Mexican
civilisation had raised itself far above the level of barbaric populations.

The Aztec language, which was probably identified with that of the Toltecs
and Chichimecs, and certain dialects of which were and still are spoken far to the
south in Guatemala, Salvador, and Nicaragua, was by far the most prevalent idiom
in Mexican territory. It was current throughout the greater part of the Anahuac
plateau, on the Gulf of Mexico as far as the Coatzacoalcos delta, and on the
Pacific coastlands from the Gulf of California to that of Tehuantepec. It is still
in use, side by side with Spanish, in all these regions, although the modern dia-
lects scarcely retain a third of the stock of words in the literary standard. As
the exclusive medium of civilised intercourse Aztec had become the language of
diplomacy and trade ; as each province was conquered, the speech of the ruling
people assumed an official character, and the inhabitants were compelled to learn it.

Aztec belongs to the polysynthetic order of speech, and of this class it is a
tvpical specimen ; the words of the sentence are fused together by modification to
an extraordinary extent, and in accordance with many subtle laws of euphony.
The language is wonderfully plastic, and those writers who have studied it
thoroughly vie with each other in vaunting its varied qualities of grace, subtlety
and wealth of descriptive terms ; in his work on natural history Hernandez
enumerates two hundi-ed species of native birds and twelve hundred of plants, all
of which have distinct names in Aztec. It also abounds in abstract terms to such
an extent that translators have had no difficulty in finding Mexican expressions
for such metaphysical or religious words as occiu' in the New Testament, the
Imitation of Christ, and other works of a like character. Its finest literarj' monu-
ments are of an ethical order, moral exhortations breathing a lofty sentiment
imsurpassed even in Hindu classical literature.

A remarkable indication of the high degree of civilisation attained by the
Mexicans is afforded by their knowledge of astronomic phenomena. They were
able to describe the movements of the sun, moon, and some planets, and the exact
duration of the solar year ; the retvirn of each " new plant," as they expressed it,
was more accurately known to them than it is even now in official Russia, where

VOL. XVII. ■£

66 MEXICO, CEXTEAL .UIErjCA, WEST INDIES.

the present calendar is twelve days behind time. Like that of their Zapotec and
Michoacan neighbours, their year was divided into eighteen months of twentj'
days, to -n-hich were added five sujaplementary days, often regarded as of bad
omen. But in order more completely to harmonize the conventional with the
astronomic year, after every cycle of fifty-two years a period either of twelve or
thirteen days was intercalated according to the necessities of the calculations.

The numeral system was vigesimal, that is, four times five, the days being also
grouped in fives, the fifth answering to our seventh, and possessing a certain
importance as set apart for feasts and markets. But the j-ears were differently
divided, each tlalpilli, " knot " or " bundle," consisting of thirteen, and four of
these, that is, a series of fifty-two years, constituting the xiultmol2}iUi, or cycle.
In the eyes of the Mexicans this formed the chief period of time, and with it
were accordingly associated certain mystic ideas on the government of their daily
life and of society. To them the normal duration of human existence seemed to
coincide with the xiuhmolpilli, and from the few men to whom the gods granted
the privilege of living through two of these periods, the double cj'cle took the
name of huehuetilitztli, or " old age." According to a law — which, however, was
not always enforced — the Toltec chiefs shoidd rule for exactly a cycle, and when a
chief died before completing the period, a council of elders assumed the government
in his name. On the other hand those who exceeded the term had to abdicate,
and their successors began their reign from the hour indicated in the calendar.

As amongst the peoples of the Old World, the solar had been preceded by a
lujiar year ; hence it was that the revolutions of the moon continued to regulate
the religious calendar of feasts and observances, which are always more faithful
to established usage. In the same way, in the various European religions the
great feast of Easter, which had originally been the feast of the spring-tide,
that is, of renewed nature, is still determined by the revolutions of the moon.

Although the Mexicans had not invented a writing sj^stem in the strict sense
of the term, they were still able to perpetuate their records, to draw maps by
"painting in a natural way all the rivers and harbours," to establish their
genealogies, to publish their laws and edicts, to describe the industrial arts, the
occupations of the household, lastly, to transmit even abstract thought, by means
of hieroglyphical figures. Usually these figures, of square form with rounded
angles, were painted in vivid colom's on a kind of paper made from the fibres of
the maguey and anacahuite, the "paper tree " (cord/a boissicri), or else on skins or
strips of cotton covered with varnish and bound together like a fan, forming an
amatl, or book ^■ith wood boards for covers. The public buildings, and here and
there the face of the rocks, especially in the Western Sierra Madre, were also embel-
lished with hieroglyphics inscribed on the stone.

A careful study of these documents shows that in the employment of such
characters the Mexicans had advanced beyond the purely figurative and symbolic
sense, in many combinations already using them as phonetic signs, so as to form a
kind of rebus ; in this way were written, for instance, the names of cities. From
the earliest historic times the Toltecs possessed extensive libraries of these painted

MEXICAN CULTURE. 67

manuscripts, which, however, the Aztecs are said to have destroyed through
jealousy of their predecessors' fame. In their turn the Aztecs were themselves
the victims of the iconoclastic zeal of their conquerors, who burnt nearly all the
older documents. Most of the extant manuscripts date only from the end of the
sixteenth century, a period when the Church, already reconciled with what
remained of Nahua civilisation, permitted the faithful again to practise the
traditional hieroglyj)hic system. But the manuscrijjts of this epoch consist mostly
of religious confessions, catechisms, land surveys, and judicial endorsements.

The industrial arts were highly developed, although the Nahuas had not
reached the age of iron, the only metals known to them being gold, silver, copper,
tin, and lead. Very thin plates of copper were used as currency, as were also
cacao berries and a multitude of other objects, differing in every province.
Cutting implements were made of an alloy of copper and tin nearly as hard as
steel. Nevertheless, nearly all their weapons were still made of hard stone, and
especially from chippings of iztli, or obsidian. Knives of this substance were also
employed by the priests for immolating human victims.

The agricultural implement which most resembled the Eurojjean plough
consisted of a wooden apparatus to which were attached hard-wood sticks tipped
with copper. The Spaniards were amazed at the skill of the native lapidaries and
jewellers, who excelled especially in carving small animals and insects. According
to contemporary chronicles, the European goldsmiths could not pretend to rival
the artificers of the New World in perfection of workmanship. One process has
certainly been lost, that of making little hollow figures of thin gold without any
soldering. These objects, of which even the museums contain but few examples,
seem quite inexplicable to the European craftsmen.

Mexico had also its potters, millers, and paper-makers. The various plants of
the cactus family, the palms and cotton trees, yielded their fibres for weaving
textile fabrics, some of which were extremely delicate. In the art of dyeing the
natives were also past masters, employing cochineal, besides a large number of
herbs, barks, and fruits, the knowledge of which has been lost since the Spanish
conquest ; in this respect Mexican art has deteriorated during the last three
centuries. One of its triumphs was the application of feathers to the adornment
of textiles, garments, tapestries, and coverlets. This feather work, which has
been preserved in a degraded state by numerous families of artists, was regarded
as one of the liberal arts. The " council of music," a sort of academy founded
to encourage art, comprised the workers in feathers amongst its members.

Architecture also flourished amongst the Nahuas, whose low, solid houses, for
the most part only one-storeyed, rested either on a platform or on piles. The towns
were regularly planned with narrow streets running at right angles and large
spaces round the temples ; they were abundantly supplied with water by means of
aqueducts and reservoirs, and had also their quaj's and embankments, while the
rivers were crossed by suspension bridges made of lianas, and the rivulets by stone
causeways. Some of the cities were fortified, and the great wall, six miles long,
which closed the highway, leading through a defile, to the republic of Tlaxcala,

F 2

68 MEXICO, CENTRAL AMERICA, WEST INDIES.

•was pierced by an ingeniously constructed gateway terminating in a parapet,
behind wliich its defenders could keep under cover.

But the chief architectural works of the Nahuas were the temples and
pyramids, such as those of Teotihuacan and Cholula ; these with the strongholds are
the only structures which in certain places have survived to our times, though
careful exploration has revealed a few traces of the private dwellings formerlj'-
occupied by the Mexicans. The religious monuments were constructed on a plan
analogous to that of the Babylonian temples, being like them step pj'ramids
formed by a series of rectangular parallelepipeds, superimposed and receding
upwards ; but as a rule the American were proportionately much broader at the
base than the Asiatic structures. Some were of prodigious size, a proof that
human labour was little valued on the Anahuac plateaux.

At the time of the SiDanish conquest the native civilisation was already on the
wane, a fact recognised by the people themselves when speaking of the Toltec age
as the flourishing epoch of the arts, sciences, and industries. Hemmed in on all
sides, without any regular communications seawards, and relieved from the
necessity of foreign trade by the great variety of products yielded by its three
superimposed climatic zones, the Aztec world had been reduced to live on its own
resources ; there was no inflow of commodities, no interchange of thought to
renew the vital forces ; the social system gradually became foul and stagnant, like
the floodwaters that lodge in the depressions of a level plain.

Trade was doubtless held in high honour, so much so that caravans could
traverse the land without danger even in time of war ; but the trafEc was always
confined to the beaten tracks affording communication between the plateau and
the lower zones on both slopes. Thus shut out from free intercourse with distant
countries, Mexican civilisation was unable to find the elements of renewed life
within itself, with the result that the people gradually lost all spirit of enterprise,
enslaved by traditional and increasingly oppressive formularies. A rigid etiquette
regulated all relations between the classes, and society became, so to say, petrified,
while public worship grew more and more atrocious.

Yet at its origin the Mexican religion had been exempt from all sanguinary
rites. The first of the gods, bearing the name of Teotl, in a pre-eminent sense
was Atonatiuh, the " Sun of the Waters," whose rays, heating the seas, caused all
things to rise out of chaos. Tlaloc, issue of the sun, yearly reviver of the spring-
tide, is the trade- wind bearer of the fertilising rains, the bird that comes from the
sea, the snake that glitters in the lightning flash, and glides into the fissures of
the earth, emblem of the running waters.

At the time when the Aztecs founded Tenochtitlan, the memory was still
preserved of a mild religion, at which suiDpliants offered to " Father Sun," to
"Mother Moon," to " Brother Earth, " and to the wind-god nothing but seeds and
fruits, to obtain a blessing on the future crops. Hopes were even cherished that,
in a coming age of gold, these placid rites might yet be restored ; at least they
were associated with the advent of another Tlaloc, Quetzacoatl, the "Plumed
Serpent," who comes from the east with the east wind and thither returns.

MEXICAX CULTUBE.

Many of the vanquished nations, such as that of the Totonacs, groaned under
the burden of having to supply human victims to the Mexican gods, ■while their
own divinitv, " Mother of Men," demanded only seeds and flowers. Even in the
Aztec temple of Texcoco, raised by Xezahualcoyotl to the " unknown god," public
worship was confined to the burning of incense at the altar of the deity. But
elsewhere wars, and the practice of adding captives to the other offerings, had

Fig. 2S.— AKnnciAL PrsAinD of Cholttla.

gradually imposed a religion of blood on the whole Xahua nation. !Xot the
symbol of life, represented by the first-fruits of the earth, but life itself has now to
be incessantly offered on the altars of the gods. Even when corn was presented
it had first to be reduced to a paste, kneaded with the blood of children and
maidens ; a dough was also prepared from the ashes of the fathers mingled with
the flesh of their offspring.

To appease the wrath of the wicked gods, to avert the evil machinations of the

to MEXICO, CENTEAL AMEEICA, WEST INDIES.

unseen world, the Mexicans had recourse to sacrifices, in this differing in no way
from Aryans, Semites, Negroes, and all other races. But their saiiguinary rites
probably surpassed in horror those even of Dahomey itself. Even the most timid
practised self-torture like the fakirs of the East and the Aissawas of Algeria ;
they scarified their flesh with the cruel maguey thorn ; they prolonged their
fastings for days together ; they abstained from sleep till the mind wandered.

The Benedictine friar, Camillo de Monserrate, explained the dento-liquid sounds
tt, etl, which seem so strange to most European ears, by the Mexican habit of
piercing the tongue with large cactus thorns during their fits of religious frenzy ;
thus he supposed might have been produced a sort of stammering which became
hereditary in the course of ages.

But it was maiuly by proxy that they sought to conjure the caprice of the
gods ; the stain of sin was vicariously cleansed by immolating alien victims. In
the Old World, which abounds in animals of all kinds, their blood was usually
regarded as sufiiciently efiicacious. But on the Mexican plateaux there was little
except men to torture and mangle in honour of the jealous deities. Human hearts
were torn from the still-warm breast by the gory hands of priests, and held up
towards the invisible spirits. To Tlaloc were immolated sucklings or children
killed with fright, and their flesh was then consumed by the nobles at a religious
banquet. The necropolis of Tenenepanco, discovered by Charnay, at an altitude of
over 13,000 feet, on the northern slopes of Popocatepetl, contained nothing but the
remains of hundreds of children, probably the victims offered to Tlaloc, god of the
lofty heights, whence descend the winds and the clouds.

At the great ceremonies, blood was shed in torrents to flood the trenches dug
round the teocaUi, that is, the temples, literally "God's house." Towards the
close of the fifteenth century, at the consecration of the great temple of Mexico to
Huitziloputzli, the war-god, which had been begun by his predecessor Tizoc, King
Ahuizotl immolated nearly eighty thousand captives. But despite the statement
of the chronicles, this tremendous butchery must have been made, not on one
occasion, but at numerous successive ceremonies, as has been shown by Charnay.

Each sovereign, on ascending the throne, had to begin his reign by a vast
man-hunting expedition, in order to provide food for all the sacred shambles ;
each of the eighteen months of the year had to be blessed by a massacre. Accord-
ingly " holy wars " had been formerly established by treaty between the various
states in order to secure sufiicient victims for the altars.

Every temple washed its foundations in the blood of captives mingled with
offerings of the precious metals, of pearls and the seeds of all useful plants. These
temples, stained with black gore, full of human flesh, fresh, charred or decomposed,
presented a ghastly spectacle ; some were entered through a door in the form of a
throat, in which thousands of skulls lined the jaws of the monster. Close by rose
pyramids, " each containing over a hundred thousand skulls."

One of the yearly feasts was that of the " flaying," when the priests traversed the
various quarters of the city clad in the dripping skins of the victims. But the
very multitude of the offerings rendered the gods insatiable, and their wretched

MEXICAN CTJLTTJEE.

devotees sought for still nobler subjects to propitiate tbem. In the Christian
religion, a Son of God, God Himself, expiated the sins of the elect on the cross ;
but those who crucified Him vreve at least unconscious of His divinity. The
ilexicans, on the contrary, created gods to immolate them to still more powerful
deities. During the great national ceremonies, a scion of the royal house would
not have satisfied them ; they required a son of God, and the young men whom
they offered up were raised by them to the divine rank. Before slaying these
gods incarnate, the priests followed in the triumphal procession, falling down in
worship before them. Then, after the sacrifice, those who tasted of the sacred
flesh, and who " ate god," as indicated by the very name of the feast, assimilated
the divine substance, and thought they thus became participators in the nature of
the gods. Such was the hideous form that " god-eating" had assumed in Mexico.
Such religious practices were naturally completed by a ferocious legislation,

yet the people seem to have been of an extremely kind disposition, mild and
affectionate. " My dear son, my jewel, my fair feather ! " thus spoke the
mother to her child. According to Ixtlixochitl, a theft exceeding in value seven
maize cobs was pimished with death. For whole commtmities, a violent seemed
far more probable than a natural ending ; this alone would sufficiently explain the
sense of sadness that had fallen on this unhappy nation, from which the divine
favour seemed to be withdrawn in inverse ratio to the number of their victims.

The emperor Xezahualcoyotl, sovereign of Texcoco, the crowned poet, who
staked his throne on a throw of dice, to show how little he cared for power, this
emperor expressed the tmiversal sentiment when he depicted "the approaching
day when the gloomy fate, the great destroyer will be revealed." Even the
Spanish conquest, with the massacres and other scourges which accompanied it,
and the servitude by which it was followed, was a relief for the nations of Anahuac j

72 MEXICO. CENTRAL AMERICA, WEST INDIES.

it rescued them from a hopeless fatalism ; it introduced them, though douhtless
through a thorny path, into the new world of common human interests.

This era of transformation began in a terrible way for the populations of
Anahuac. The Spanish conquerors acted in Mexico as they had acted in the
Antilles ; they massacred the natives that resisted, and reduced the survivors to a
state of merciless slavery. " A long experience," said Peter Martyr Anghiera,
" has shown the necessity of depriving these men of freedom and giving them
guides and protectors." Thanks to these "protectors," whole provinces were
nearly depopulated in a single generation. The siege of Mexico, " where men
were numerous as the stars of heaven and the sands of the seashore," is said to
have cost the lives of 150,000 persons ; and according to Pimentel, the native
population of Nueva Galicia, which has become the present state of Jalisco, was
rapidly reduced from 450,000 to 12,600.

In the swift work of conquest and enslavement, the Spaniards were aided by
the very apathy of the wretched inhabitants themselves. The conquered multi-
tudes, whom their former masters had crushed beneath an intolerable burden of
oppressive laws and statute labour, seemed indifferent to a change of tyrants.
They even found it easier to bend the neck to the yoke of the demi-gods armed
with thunder, than to rulers of their own race.

The change, or at least apparent change of religion which went on, so to say,
simultaneously with the conquest, was also effected without difScxilty. When
the Franciscan Friars, soon followed by the Dominicans and Augustinians, offered
to the Mexican populations the baptism that cleanseth from sin, a rite which
in any case scarcely differed from the analogous purifications of the Aztec religion,
the surprising success of their propaganda is not to be exclusively attributed to
their prestige 'as conquerors, or to the support which they received from the secular
arm. Allowance shoidd doubtless also be made for the happiness of being at last
released from the terrorism that the native religions had imposed on the people.

Toribio de Benavente relates that nine million Indians were baptised during
the fifteen first years that followed the conquest. The priests found themselves
surrounded by hundreds of kneeling suppliants, and such was the eagerness of the
candidates " suffering from the thirst of baptism," that the oificiating clergy lacked
the time to perform the prescribed ceremonies, and satisfied themselves with
moistening the brow of the neophytes with a little saliva. The names of saints
supplied by the calendar no longer sufficing, the Indians were grouped in batches
each of which received collectively the same name.

Apart from the sanguinary rites the two religions differed so little in their
outward forms that the natives felt little difficulty in conforming to both. When
called iipon to overthrow their idols, and rejjlace them, in the same temples and on
the same sites, with the statue of the Madonna and her Child, the caciques had
merely to set up the image of Tecleciguata, the " Great Lady," and the change
was effected. But no crucifix was erected, says the Dominican monk, Eemesal,
"because the Spaniards, claiming immortality for themselves, were reluctant to
teach the neophytes that their God could die."

RESULTS OF THE CONQUEST. 73

Multitudes accepted baptism without any intention of abandoning tbeir old
rites, and continued long to celebrate the pagan mysteries in the depths of the
forests. Thus a chapel was built and a cross set up immediately above the spot
where had been hidden the proscribed image of an idol. TVhen boM^ing before
the cross it was to the god that they addressed their invocations.

But by force of habit the two cults became gradually merged in one ; at present
when any of the old idols happen to be disinterred, it is in perfect good faith that
the natives call them sanfos antiguos, " old saints." The same pious souls that
crowd the Christian churches and devoutlj^ kiss the relics of the martyrs, secretly
assemble in the woods to crown the images of the former deities with garlands.

But the conversions, in virtue of which they could claim to be the spiritual
brethren of the " Christians," that is, of the Spaniards, did not raise the natives to
a position of equality with their conquerors. In the converts the latter at first
saw only inferior beings, useful especially when dead, as their fat then served to
staunch the wounds of men and horses. They addressed the natives whip in band,
and even in the lifetime of Bernal Diaz a new saj'ing had become current amongst
the whites : " Donde nace el Indio nace el hejuco ! " or, as we might say, " Where the
Indian is born there grows the cane." Even in recent times the poet Galvan
could exclaim : " I am an Indian, that is, a worm cowering in the grass, avoided
b}^ all hands, crushed by all feet." Accordingly the children of the Aztecs may
well have more than once sighed for the old order of things. " Why were we
happier in the days of barbarism and debasement than since our conversion to your
faith ? " the elders of a native community asked Bishop Zumarraga.

The period immediately following the conquest was the most terrible for the
natives. At first some districts were transformed almost to solitudes by those
maladies which nearly always break out when distinct races are brought suddenly
into contact. The first epidemic of smallpox, said to have been introduced
by a negro in the expedition of Narvaez, and which struck down Cuitlahuatzin,
Montezuma's successor, was more destriictive than the SjDanish arms.

But far more terrible was the matlazahuatl, probably scarlet fever, which raged
in 1576, and which, according to Torquemada, carried o£E nearly two millions in the
dioceses of Mexico, Michoacan, Puebla and Oaxaca. In a period of two hundred
and seventy-five years as many as seventeen great epidemics visited Mexico, from
all of which the Spaniards remained exempt. According to the missionaries the
race itself seemed to have become physically decayed, as if doomed to extinction.

Those who escaped the plague were more than decimated by the oppressive
burdens imposed on them. Although protected from slavery properly so called by
the " laws of the Indies," they still remained serfs attached to the soil, and thus
fell in tens of thousands with the large estates into the hands of the religious
orders by which they had been converted, or else into those of the great capitalists
the responsibility of the proprietors being in all cases merely a legal fiction. I^or
were the laws themselves enforced, for the province of Panuco was nearly depopu-
lated by its own governor, Nufio de Guzman, who openly sold men and women to
the traders from the Antilles, after first branding them with the hot iron.

MEXICO, CENTEAL MIEEICA, WEST INDIES.

Under the Aztec regime tlie lack of pack animals had introduced the custom of
making captives and outcasts tlamcmes, or carriers, for the transport of goods and
supplies. This service the}' continued to perform under the Spanish administration,
though the law fixing the load at " two arrobas," or about sixty pounds, was too
often violated. The landed proprietors, more ignorant than the natives of the
climatic conditions, often employed bands of porters in zones where the tempera-
ture was fatal ; those descending from the plateaux perished in thousands on the
hot coastlands, while others, transferred to the bleak uplands, yielded to the cold.

But while the race of aborigines was rapidly diminishing and even disappear-
ing in certain districts, another race, that of the Mestizoes, was being developed
and acquiring over-increasing imi^ortance. The conquerors, having brought no
women with them, soon formed alliances with the natives, Cortes setting the

Fig. 30. — FlEST CoNaUESTS OF COETES.
Scale 1 : 4,000,000.

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example by his connection with Malitzin or Dona Marina, who proved so useful
in times of extreme peril. All his captains and soldiers were presented with
native wives ; all Indian chiefs, whether pleading for favour or concluding an
alliance, sealed the treaty by cementing unions between the new arrivals and the
women of his household or kindred ; every tribe suing for peace brought women
as presents for the conquerors.

Even after the conquest the adventurers and traders attracted to the New
World by the fame of the treasures of Mexico were seldom accompanied by
Spanish helpmates ; hence most of the unions continued to be made with native
women, despite the decrees which declared null and void all grants of land made
to whites who left their wives behind them. Thus the Mestizoes continued rapidly
to increase, and soon outnumbered the Spaniards.

In ordinary language this term " Mestizo " indicates rather the class than the
origin, and is applied exclusively to the proletariates who do not keep aloof from

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MEXICO, CENTEAL AMERICA, WEST INDIES.

It should be noticed that the transitions between Spaniards and Mestizoes,
between Mestizoes and Manses, are far less abrupt about the capital than in the
northern regions, where the populations are scattered over a much wider area,

Kg. 31. — Poet of SisuANTAifEO.
Scale 1 : 42,000.

lorji-

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and where the divisions between the races are more sharply drawn. In those
regions miscegenation has taken place to a smaller extent ; till recently the
struggle between the hostile elements was still continued, and was occasionally
attended by massacres on both sides.

THE spa:^ish administration. 77

The exclusive mercantile system to wLich the country was subjected during
the Spanish rule had the effect, so to say, of sequestrating New Spain, and of
concealing from the eyes of the world the changes that had been accomplished
sLace the daj-s of the conquest. It was ia fact a system of absolute monopoly.
From the standpoint of the Spanish Government, the Aztec populations existed
only for the purpose of eni'iching the treasury and the commercial " farmers-
general." But these vast monopolies, and the incessant manipulation of the
customs, combined with the oppression and empoverishment of the natives,
natui'ally resulted in. exhausting the sources of all trade.

All violation of the fiscal laws was severely punished, and often involved the
death of the offender. All trading relations with strangers were interdicted
under pain of death ; even shipwrecked mariners were thrown into prison, and
occasionally even executed, to prevent them from entering iuto commercial
relations with the natives ; the very highways leading seawards were systematic-
ally abandoned, and the Mexican seaboard became a wilderness. Thus the
EngKsh navigator, George Anson, warned by the Indians of the neighboui-hood,
was able to put into the port of Siguantaneo (Zehuatanejo), between the two
hostile garrisons of Zacatula and Acapulco, and wait quietly for the sailing of
the valuable galleon freighted with ingots for Manilla.

The system was at last pushed so far that the fleet destined for Spain was only
allowed to sail every third j'ear, and to make for any other port but Seville or
Cadiz was declared to be a crime against the State. The search for quicksilver
mines was prohibited in order to maintain the monopoly of the Almaden mines in
the south of Spain. TiU the year 1803, the Mexicans were forbidden to cultivate
the vine ; it has even been asserted that Hidalgo first raised the standard of revolt
in the Dolores district, because this revolutionary parish priest had been compelled
to destroj' his vineyards. The olive was also interdicted, as well as many other
plants whose products might replace those introduced from Spain ; even these
were imported only in small quantities to keep up the tariff of high prices.

At one time the people were forbidden to brew any more pulque, the national
drink extracted from the maguey plant, the sale of which interfered with that of the
Catalanian brandies. In the same way certain trades were officially abolished as
being prejudicial to the national industries of the Peninsula, or rather to the
interest of a few private speculators. Even so late as 1819 a royal decree pro-
hibited foreign vessels from entering the port of Yera Cruz " under any pretext."

Such an administration could end only in the total ruin of the colony, or in a
revolution. The moment the mother coimtry became engaged in a war of inde-
pendence against the French, and was thus obliged to leave her ultramarine posses-
sions almost entirely to themselves, a change of the political equilibrium became
inevitable. The imprisonment of the Si^anish Viceroy, Itturigara}', in 1806, by
the other members of the State Council, may be said to have been the first act in
the Mexican Revolution.

Doubtless the Creoles were far from being unanimous in their opposition to the
old order of things, and many even allowed themselves to be seduced by titles.

78 MEXICO, CENTEAL AMERICA, "WEST INDIES.

privileges, or money. But they entertained the most divergent views on the
general situation. The more daring ventured to foster the idea of independence,
which to others seemed a dream, while the majority aspired to nothing higher
than a share in the administration of their native land, and the abolition of the
absolute commercial monopoly enjoyed by the Cadiz traders.

On the other hand the great bulk of the native poioulation felt little interest
in the form of government. What they wanted was the possession of the land, a
little light to relieve their gloomy lives, a modest share of liberty. Under the
Sjianish regime they had never attempted to revolt, although for two hundred years
after the conquest the armed forces consisted only of the Viceroy's bodyguard ; even
under the Bourbon dynasty the " greens " — as the regular troops were called, from
the green facings of their uniforms — never exceeded 6,000 infantry and cavalry.

Nevertheless the Indians themselves had also a vague instinct of political inde-
pendence, as is evident from the persistent legend about King Montezuma. The
name itself they obviously learnt from the Spaniards ; but they eagerly rallied
round it as a watchword, and adopted his colours, blue and white, for their
standard of battle. To him were attributed all the ruined monuments of the
country, and it was said that, like a second Quetzalcoatl, he slept in some cavern
awaiting the great day of national awakening. We know with what fury the
natives fought during the early days of the revolution. Impelled by the frenzy
of certain triumph, armed with nothing but clubs or knives, they fell upon solid
regiments of well-equipped troops ; they even threw themselves on the guns in
order to stop the touch-holes with their rags or straw hats.

Such was the confusion of ideas and of factions caused by the prevailing
ignorance, and the long debasement of the populations, that the revolution began
by a rising of some fanatical Indians of Dolores, " in the name of the holy reli-
gion and of the good King Ferdinand VII." On the other hand the insurgents
suffered their iirst defeat by troops composed of Creoles and led by a Creole.

In 1813, two years after the first conflict, independence was for the first time
proclaimed by a congress of refugees wandering from mountain to mountain.
But this voice of freedom sounded like blasphemy to those accustomed to servitude,
and the moderate party hastened to return to obedience. No Indians in the more
remote provinces had risen, and the seat of war had hitherto been confined to the
central districts, which were more densely peopled than elsewhere. The insur-
gents no longer formed regular armies, and had been reduced to mere guerilla
bands ; nearly all their prominent leaders had been shot, or were lurking in the
woods and marshes ; all seemed lost when, in 1817, Mina, a Spaniard twenty-eight
years of age, who had already fought bravely for freedom in Spain, crossed the seas
and devoted himself to the same cause in llexico against his own fellow-countrymen.

But after gaining a few victories he also perished, and the struggle for inde-
pendence, so fiercely begun in 1811 by the priest Hidalgo and his extemporised
armies, was reduced to a handful of outlaws and brigands. Nevertheless the old
regime suddenly fell with a crash, so to say, under its own weight at the very
time when the Viceroy Apodaca was proclaiming the final restoration of order in

THE MEXICAN EEVOLCTIOX.

1820, and when the victorioiis Spamsh forces were sweeping the last " herds " of
rebels before them. To effect the transformation all that was needed was the
treason of the ambitious Colonel Iturbide, in whom destiny " selected the least
worthy to be the successftJ champion of independence."

Kg. 32. — SCESE OF THE TVaE OF LsDZPEXllESCE.
Scale 1 : 11,I>X>,0».

ihu. ^N^V'V WWi^J^:.

\test o"" bi-eenvv^c^

1S6 Miles.

Now the whole nation enthusiastically adopted the " plan of Iguala," that is
to say, the project of a new constitution proposed in the town of Iguala, de-
manding full and complete autonomy for the Mexican people under a monarchical
form of government. The new order of things was accepted throughout the
whole extent of the land, and the capital itself was suiTendered by O'Donoju,

80 MEXICO, CEXTE.iL AMERICA, WEST INDIES.

last of the viceroys. This was in 1821, and two years later the republic was at
last proclaimed.

The vcrj'- term Guadalupcs given to the insurgents in opposition to that of
Gachupines, by which the Spaniards were known, is a pioof of the influence exer-
cised by the clergy over the bulk of the Mexican population. The multitudes of
native rebels were regarded merely as devout pilgrims enrolled under the banner
of the Madonna of Guadalupe, whose worship had been confounded with that of
Toci or Tonantzin, the " Notre-Dame " of the Aztecs.

But the priests, like the other whites, were themselves divided into factions
according to their origin, alliances, wealth or poverty. Hidalgo, who first raised
the standard of revolt, was a Creole priest with a mixture of Indian blood. Morelos,
another priest, was the chief hero of the war on the side of the national party.
Even a nun, Maria Quitana, was seen to leave the convent and take part in the
struggle. But bishops and the officers of the Inquisition had in the name of the
Pope hurled excommunications against the rebels, and it was in honour of the
Church that on Good Friday in 1814, Iturbide, at that time in the service of Spain,
caused several of these excommunicated patriots to be shot.

Hence the clergy were unable to contribute towards fostering such a common
national sentiment as might have ensured internal peace. On the other hand the
political revolution was of no service in improving the condition of the native
peasantry, for it made no change in the system of land tenure. The soil still con-
tinued, as heretofore, to be monopolised by the great proprietors, whose power
was exercised over hundreds or thousands of the agricultural jDopulation. Doubt-
less an agrarian revolution seemed imminent at the very outset of the insurrection,
when the domains of the Spaniards were sequestrated in the name of the nation,
and were freely occupied by the Indians. But the whites forming part of the
rebel forces hastened to put a stop to these confiscations, which might have had
fatal consequences, and the elements of the social struggle were thus maintained on
the same lines as before.

These profound inequalities, which largely coincide with racial distinctions,
sufficiently explain the state of chronic revolution which was the normal condition
of Mexico for the half-century following the proclamation of independence. The
nation sought without finding some new principle of economic equilibrium. By a
curious parallelism each civil war corresponded to a fresh outbreak both in Spain
itself and in her other revolted colonies, as if the dismembered branches of the old
empire were still connected by a common social life.

In Mexico the accomplishment of national imity is aU the more difficult that a
considerable section of the Indians are associated with the civilised populations
only in terms of official documents. None of the natives still grouped in tribes
living apart in remote provinces, speaking the old languages, and practising the old
customs, can be regarded as yet forming part of the Mexican nation. But they
become assimilated in increasing numbers from year to year, thanks to the develop-
ment of education, industrial centres and highways traversing their territory.
Even the Indians of the Califoruian peninsula who are most removed from the

THE MEXICAN INDIANS. 81

centre of Mexican civilisation have acquired a knowledge of Spanish, and those
settled in the vicinitj" of the missions and the mining stations differ in no respects
from the Indios inansos in other parts of the territory. But they are a mere handful,
scarcely mustering 3,000 altogether, and the Pericu tribe, recently mentioned as
still living at the southern extremity of the peninsula, has completely disappeared.
The other two who still survive, Cochimi in the north, and Guaicuri (Guayacura)
in the middle, of the peninsula, are related to the Arizonian Yumas, and, like them,
formerly occupied the northern plains which are now inhabited by the Cocopas,
and from which they were gradually driven west of the Colorado.

Both Cochimi and the Guaicuri lead an extremely nomad existence, shifting their
camping grounds at least a hundred times during the year. At night they shelter
themselves against the wind under some brushwood or line of rocks, but their only
roof is the canopy of heaven, though a few dens or lairs are constructed for their
sick. Formerly the Cochimi regarded with shame any kind of raiment ; but they
wore necklaces and bracelets, and encircled the head with an arrangement of skins,
reeds, or feathers.

The Cochimi and all other tribes of Lower California are grouped by Pimentel
with the Xahua family, that is, with the Aztecs, on the ground of their physical
appearance and speech. But other authorities hold that the Lower Californian
languages show no resemblance to Aztec or any other known language.

Nearly all the Indians occupying the north-western region of ^Mexico, from the
Arizonian frontier to the moimtains skirting the right bank of the Eio Lerma,
belong to a widespread family commonly named from the Pimas and the Opatas,
two of their most powerful groups. The term Pimeria, or " Pima-land," is even
still, though incorrectly, applied to the north part of Sonora. The conventional
frontier laid down between the American and llexican republics is not an ethnical
parting-line, and north of it the Pimas and the kindred Papagosare, in fact, repre-
sented in the largest numbers.

The Opatas also, who are said still to number 35,000 souls, dwell especially in
the Sierra iladre in the upland valleys of the Sonora and Taqtii rivers. They are
an agricultural people, who have been half assimilated to the Spaniards, and who
have always sided with the whites in the racial wars. Hence the ilexican writers
have always praised their valotir, sobriety and steadfastness, and have given them
the title of " American Spartans."

The Yaqui and ilayo tribes, who occupy the east side of the Gulf of California,
that is, the almost desert regions watered by the two rivers named from them, are
fully as brave as the Opatas, but they are no friends of the whites, and have even
frequently risen in revolt. In 1825, after the proclamation of ilexican indepen-
dence, they also proclaimed their own autonomy, and declared themselves exempt
from all taxes. Since that time their territory has remained somewhat inacces-
sible to strangers.

Yet the Yaquis and Mayos, who are sometimes collectively called Cahitas from
their common language, are by no means a numerous nation, probably not
exceeding 20,000 altogether. Despite the wars they have had to wage against

VOL. XVII. G

MEXICO, CENTRAL AMEEICA, WEST INDIES.

the whites, they are naturally of a peaceful disposition, energetic, and industrious.
Like the Kabyles of Algeria, their young men emigrate every year in large
numbers, seeking employment in the farmsteads of Sonora or Sinaloa, or as
porters and menials in the towns. But they still remain attached to their homes,
and those who are not too far removed make an annual visit to their native valleys.
They are said to be excellent musicians, and, like the Hungarian gipsies, learn to
play the fiddle, guitar, or harp, merely by listening to the village minstrels.

The Sori people of Tiburon Island and the neighbouring mainland appear to
form a distinct subdivision, with a few other scattered family groups known by
various names. Orozco y Berra has compared them with the Caribs, adding that

'Fig. 33. — Chiep Native Poptjlationb in Mexico.
Scale 1 : 30,000,onr).

90-

620 Miles.

he would not be surprised to find that they belong to the same race. These
natives, who are now reduced to a mere fragment, defended their homes and
valleys with great vigour ; their poisoned arrows especially were much dreaded,
and Spanish expeditions had often carefully to avoid their territory.

Amongst the numerous north-western populations the Tarahumaras, or
Tarumaros, are one of the most remarkable for the tenacity with which they have
preserved their ancient customs. The inhabitants of Chihuahua give the name of
Tarumaros to all the mansos, or " civilised " Indians, of the state ; but the true
Tarahumaras, who still number about 40,000, live in seclusion in the upland
valleys of the Sierra Madre on both the Atlantic and Pacific slopes. Their
villages, most of which end in the syllable c/«c — "place," "town" — are scattered
over the highland region of the three states of Chihuahua, Sonora, and Sinaloa,
and according to Pimentel penetrate even into Durango.

THE MEXICAN INDIANS. 8S

Some of their groups are still cave-dwellers, and numerous caverns are shown
which were formerly inhabited. According to many writers the old troglodytic
customs explain the legend of the Aztecs regarding their residence in the " Seven
Caves." The Tarahumaras who have settled in the towns of the whites now
speak the language of their rulers ; but the full-blood communities of the Sierra
Madre have preserved their old tongue.

Discovered in their remote retreats by the Jesuit missionaries at the beginning
of the seventeenth century, the Tarahumaras have never offered any serious
opposition to the Mexican Government ; nevertheless they have always refused to
accept Spanish institutions. According to the traditional custom marriages are
contracted after a novitiate of the bride in her future husband's house and under
the surveillance of his parents. The land has been preserved from confiscation,
and is still held in common. Each group of villagers is collective proprietor, and,
as in the Russian mir, the arable land is parcelled out amongst the families
according to their numbers. One portion is reserved for the sick and aged, and
this is cultivated by all the members of the community in their turn. The maize,
wheat, haricot beans, potatoes, and other produce are then stored in a public
granary imder the eyes of the more honoured men and women of the village, and
the residents draw what they require from this common store.

They call themselves " Christians " and erect a cross at the foot of their fields
at sowing time ; but the parish priest is not allowed to assist at the feast, which
concludes with the sacrifice of a sheep or a calf. Those of the southern districts
near the common frontier of Chihuahua, Sonora, and Sinaloa, are said still to
practise the old religion. They keep entirely aloof from the Mexicans, and when
their villages are forcibly invaded, they refuse to answer the questions put to them
by the intruders. They decline all payment for the provisions they may be called
upon to supply, and even allow their cabins to be plundered without protest ; in
fact the only force they understand is that of passive resistance.

They are said to be a gloomy, sullen people ; nevertheless when they fear no
disturbance to the national feasts they amuse themselves cheerfully, and " dance
with their gods." They are specially fond of tilting and racing, whence their
tribal name, which is said to mean " Runners," though the etjTnology is somewhat
doubtful. At times whole tribes spend days in contending for the prize, women
with pitchers of water being stationed at regidar intervals along the course to
revive those overcome by fatigue.

Some of the southern valle3-s of the Sierra Madre are inhabited bj- the remains
of another Indian nation, the Tepehuans, or "Lords of the Mountains," a name,
however, to which they are no longer entitled. After some conflicts with the
missionaries, they were almost exterminated by the Spaniards of Durango. These
natives, who are now Christians, and gradually merging M-ith the populations of
the Sierra, have in some districts preserved their language, which by certain
authors is said to contain a large proportion of terms analogous to those of the
North Asiatic tongues.

The full-blood Tepehuans have a dull yellovv' complexion, prominent cheeki

84 MEXICO, CENTRAL AMERICA, WEST INDIES.

bones, and oblique eyelids, features wbicb are all cbaracteristic of the Kergbiz and
Kalmuck types. Like some Siberian peoples, tbey also plait the bair in a single
tress, ■wbicb falls over the nape of the neck.

But whatever be said of the hypotheses affiliating these tribes to the Asiatics,
both the Tepehuans and their southern neighbours, the Coras, have been classed
by Buschmann and Orozco on linguistic grounds in the same family as the Pimas,
Opatas, and Tarahumaras. On the other hand the Sabaibos, Acasees, and Xiximes
of Durango, as well as the Conchos of Chihuahua, who dwell on the plain watered
by the river Concho, would appear to be rather Nahuas.

The space comprised between the Rio Grande and the east slope of the Sierra
Madre belongs to the various Apache tribes, who form a separate family related
in speech to the Athabascans of the Mackenzie basin. Their name, which is
probably of Opata origin, is said to mean " Bad Dogs" ; but they call themselves
Shis luday, or " Men of the Woods." Till within a recent epoch, all the northern
provinces of the republic were exposed to the raids of these ferocious Indians, and
even in Durango, over 360 miles from the American frontier, crosses set up on
the outskirts of the towns recalled the murders committed by the Apache savages.
Districts which, during the first j'ears of the conquest, the Spanish troops were
able to traverse without fighting, and where peaceful colonies had been founded,
were afterwards invaded by the marauders, and all security disappeared beyond the
fortified towns and stations. Journeys could be made only by large companies or
caravans, and the armed men, whose track was followed by the savages lurking in
the surrounding brushwood, took care not to lag behind the main body.

How were these irrepressible foes to be got rid of ? Mounted on their swift
and hardy horses, they could cover 60 or even 120 miles in a single day.
Everywhere they found shelter in the cactus scrub or thickets, and the shepherd,
aware of their presence, dare not betray them. The system of large lauded estates,
which had brought about the invasion of Italy by the Barbarians, also facilitated
the incursions of the Apaches by suppressing the little centres of culture and
resistance formerly scattered over the land, by replacing tillage with stock-breed-
ing, and lastly by leaving the defence of the country to mercenaries who had often
strong inducements to come to an understanding with the plunderers.

To get rid of the Apache robbers, a war of extermination was proclaimed
against them. A pi-ice was put upon their heads, the tariff being regulated accord-
ing to the age and sex of the slaiu. The Apaches on their part put to death all
adult men that fell into their hands, sparing the women and children to recruit their
bands, which, by this process of miscegenation, at last became a mongrel group
of all tribes and races. In this atrocious war, it often happened that the heralds
themselves were not spared. The military authorities, jealous of their privileges,
contributed on their part to prolong the "reign of terror" by arrogating to them-
selves the exclusive right of carrying on defensive operations, and absolutely
prohibiting the municipalities from combining against the common enemy. But
the regular troops proved insufficient for the task they had undertaken, and an
appeal had to be made to foreign mercenaries. Thus in 1850 a band of Texans

THE MEXICAN IXDIAKS.

was enlisted in CMliualiua for the purpose of hunting down tlie Apactes ; but it
was soon discovered that these dangerous allies found it more convenient to plunder
peaceful travellers, and bring their scalps to the Government for the stipulated
rewards. At last Indians were hurled against Indians, and the extermination

Fig. 34. — 'WATEP.-C.iEKIEB AXD ToKTILLAS WoMAX.

of the Apaches was entrusted to their hereditary foes, the southern Comanches,
who roamed over the Bolson de iTapimi plains. The few survivors have
become shepherds, " cowboys," horse-dealers, even guards of the stations on the
railways that now traverse their former hunting-grounds.

The north-east region of ^Mexico comprised between the Rio Bravo and Tampico,

86 MEXICO, CENTEAL AMEEICA, WEST INDEES.

and between the central plateaux and the Gulf of Mexico, has been an exclusive
domain of Spanish speech since the last century. Scarcely any traces still survive
of Nahua or other native languages, and the " one hundred and forty-eight
nations " of Coahuila, the " seventy-two " of Tamaulipas, the " thirty-one " of
Nuevo Leon, the Manosprietas, the Irritilas, Tamaulipecs, Cuachichils, and
Zacotecs, have all been merged in the general mass of the Mestizo populations,
abandoning their old usages and distinct idioms. Wherever the people were in
the nomad state the native tongues almost invariably disappeared, but held their
groimd much longer among the settled or agricultural classes.

In the very neighbourhood of the capital the more secluded hiUs and upland
valleys are still inhabited by scattered groups of the Otomi, an Indian nation
which seems to have undergone little change since the epoch of Toltec rule.
The designation of " Eed-haired " often applied to them has probably reference
to their practice of dyeing the hair red when on the war-path. Round about
Queretaro, which may be taken as the centre of their domain, they occupy nearly
all the mountainous parts of the Anahuac plateau between San Luis Potosi and
the Sierra Nevada; hence the term Serranos, or "Highlanders," commonly applied
to them.

The Otomi are estimated at over 600,000, including those who have exchanged
their language for Spanish or Aztec, and at probably 1,000,000 if the Fame and
Mazahua branches be included. Despite their name, which in Aztec means
" Wanderers," the Otomi are a very sedentary people, little given to travelling
except between their mountain villages and the market towns.

Physically thoy have large heads with coarse black hair, swarthy complexion,
heavy carriage, yet are excellent runners. By some writers these rude loutish
populations have been regarded as the remains of an old Chinese colony, an
hypothesis scarcely in accordance with the view that assigns a Chinese origin to
the Aztec culture. The theory was first suggested by the fact that the Hia-Mu,
that is, the "Old," as the Otomi language is called, is, Kke Chinese, almost entirely
monosyllabic. The two languages also present numerous coincidences in their
vocabularies ; but such coincidences are almost inevitable, the series of mono-
syllabic words being naturally somewhat restricted or at least presenting far less
diversity of form than that of polj^syllabic terms.

In Michoacan, west and south-west of the capital, the bulk of the population
are the Tarascans (Tarascos), who occupy nearly the whole of Michoacan itself,
besides a small part of the neighbouring state of Guanajuato. But in various
districts they are intermingled with the Otomi, the Mazahuas, the Matlaltzincas,
as well as some more or less mixed descendants of the Aztecs. So recently as
the beginning of the present century, the Tarascan language was still dominant
in their territory, Spanish being almost unknown except in the towns ; it is
even still the chief medium of intercourse in many rural districts ; but Spanish,
being taught in the schools, is gradually prevailing. The Tarascans, formerly
rivals of the allied Aztec race in general culture, were, like them, acquainted
with pictorial writing, and even excelled them in some branches of industry.

THE MEXICAN INDIANS.

Theii- religion was also of a milder character, and sanguinary rites had been
introduced only a short time before the Spanish conquest. They long held
out valiantly against their Aztec " Fathers-in-law; " their own name (Tarhascue)
had, according to Lagunas, the meaning of " Sons-in-law," and was said to have
reference to their exogamous practice of taking their wives from their Aztec
neighbours.

On the east slope of the plateau, facing the Gulf of Mexico, are found some
groups of distinct populations isolated amid the surrounding Aztec people, who

Kg. 35. — Chief KiiivE Races in Mexico.
Scale I : 30.000,000.

Aztecs. Mayas, Qaichds,

Huaxtecs, Totonacs. Mems.

Tarascsms.

Zapotecs,
Mis tecs.

Opata-Cora. Otomi, &c. Zoqn^, Mixe. Cborotega.

,^___^^^,^_^,^^_ 620 Miles.

Lencas,
Chontals, &o.

have become more or less assimilated to their Spanish rulers. Such are the
Huaxtecs (Huastecos), that is, " Our Neighbours," so named in courtesy by the
Aztecs, although, according to Pimentel, the term means " People of the Huaxi
land," so called from a kind of fruit common In their territory. They occupy the
northern part of the State of Vera Cruz, and stretch thence northwards to the
plains watered by the lower course of the Tampico river. The Huaxtecs are allied
In race and speech to the JIayas of Yucatan, although no tradition survives of
the events by which they became severed from their southern kinsfolk. Judging
from the archaic form of their language, Stoll concludes that they were the first
who became isolated from the primitive ilaya group, and various names of places

88 MEXICO, CENTRAL AMERICA, WEST INDIES.

and peoples show that the Maya nation, at present confined to the Yucatan
peninsula, formerly occupied the Tlaxcala plateau.

On their southern frontier, that is, iu the hills whence flows the Rio Cazones,
the Huaxtecs are conterminous with the Totonacs, that is, the " Three Hearts,"
eaid to be so named because they formerly made a solemn triennial sacrifice of
three youths, whose hearts were offered to the gods. According to the national
traditions the Totonacs also accomplished many peregrinations at an epoch even
antecedent to the wanderings of the Chichimecs and Aztecs, and, like them, at last
founded new homes on the Anahuac plateau, but more to the east. Most ethno-
logists adopt the views of Sahagun, who groups the Totonacs in the same family
with the Huaxtecs and Mayas, while other authorities regard them as quite
distinct. Alphonso Pinart also makes a separate division of the few thousand
Akal'mans, who appear to speak a peculiar language, and who live between the
Huaxtecs and Totonacs in the northern part of the State of Hidalgo and in Vera
Cruz, but chiefly round about the city of Huejutla.

The last group of native races in Mexico proper beyond Chiapas and Yucatan
is formed by the various Indian populations who dwell, to the number of about
600,000, in the southern uplands and on the Pacific slope between the Acapulco
district and the isthmus of Tehuantepec. Here the chief languages, which, how-
ever, present but slight differences, are those of the Mixtecs and Zapotecs, that is,
"People of Cloudland," and of the "Zapotas" {casimiroa cdulis). Like the
Tarascans these nations were fully as civilised as the Aztecs, and it was their
strong national sentiments that enabled them to offer a vigorous resistance to the
Spaniards, and even to maintain a state of semi-independence down to quite recent
times. Now, however, they form part of the common Mexican nationality, and
by their energetic habits contribute as much as any other native element towards
the general prosperity of the commonwealth. Spanish will soon take the place
of the local languages as the medium of general intercourse, as it has already
become that of popular instruction. The Mixes also, as well as the Zoques, the
Chinantecs, and other peoples of East Oaxaca, who are usually grouped under the
general name of Chontals, that is, " Savages," are being gradually absorbed in the
mass of the civilised population. Their Mixe neighbours are said to have such a
pool' language that it has to be supplemented by numerous loan words taken from
the Spanish. Formerly they had to eke out the sense by means of gestures, so
that after nightfall, or when the lights were put out, all conversation ceased.

Doubtless many of the Atzec aborigines were in some respects inferior in
culture to the ancient subjects of Montezuma. But, on the other hand, numerous
tribes which formerly possessed no culture at all, have now entered the general
movement of national development. In any case the multiplicity of idioms still
current in Mexican territory, some spoken by a few hundred thousand, some only
by a few thousand or even a few hundred persons, prevent all comparison between
such many-tongued states, for instance, as Austria-Hungary or the Turkish
Empire. Id these two states the current languages belong not to small groups,
but to powerful nationalities all contending for supremacy in the very heart of the

THE MEXICAN INDIANS. 89

monarchy itself ; but in the Mexicau republic Spanish, recognised by all as the
national language, is steadily and surely encroaching on all the others. But
excluding the Aztec, Otomi, Tarascan, Mixtec, and Zapotec, the " one hundred
and twenty " languages still current in Mexico are spoken only bj^ obscure and
scattered communities of but slight numerical importance ; many of these are also
actually disappearing, just as at least sixty have already disappeared since the
arrival of the Spaniards in the country.*

The indigenous populations differ so greatly in their origin and other respects
that it is impossible to draw a general picture of the Mexican Indian equally
applicable to all. The accounts given by various authors refer chiefly to those that
are met along the highway between Yera Cruz and the capital and in the other
more important towns on the plateau. In fact, these writers have almost exclu-
sively taken as the typical representatives of the aborigines the more or less
civilified Aztecs and the still barbarous or almost savage Otomi. On the elevated
tablelands most of the natives have a skin soft as velvet to the touch, but so thick
that it conceals as with a vesture all prominences and play of veins and muscles.
The blood is not seen as through a transparencj' on the cheeks, except amongst the
young girls, whose features are said at times to " beam like copper lit up by the
sun." An extremely mild expression is imparted to the whole physiognomy by
the cheekbones, which, though prominent, are still enclosed in a thick layer of
flesh, by the nose with its wide nostrils, the tumid lips and rounded chin. The
glance also acquires a highly characteristic expression from the peculiar disposition
of the eyelids, the upper being scarcely curved above the median line of the eye,
while the lower describes a more decided arch towards the cheek than is found in
anj- other race. The skull is brachycephalic, this rounded form, however, being
due in many districts to the custom of moulding the head of the infants on the
inner curve of a calabash. The hair is black, coarse, and lank, like that of all full-
blood American aborigines.

A distinguishing feature of the upland populations is their broad and highly
convex chest ; they are also noted for the great muscular strength of their legs ;
when resting by the wayside or in their homes they squat down on their toes, and
show no signs of fatigue even after hours of such an apparently uncomfortable
posture. On journeys thej' always walk in single file, with a light springj' step in
unison, and bent somewhat forward, as if to present their broad back to the
burden. The attitude, in fact, is that of pack animals, and such was the condition in
which they had been till recently kept by their Spanish taskmasters. The women

• Chief languages spoken in Mexico proper, excluding Chiapas and Yucatan : —
Nahnatl or Mexican (Aztec), mth Acaxee, Sabaibo, Xixime, Cochimi, Concho, and othermembers

of the same family.
Seri, Upanguaima and Guaima.

Papago, Opata, Taqni, Mayo, Tarahumara, Tepehuan, Cora, &c.
Apache or Tavipai, Navajo, Mescalero, Llanero, Lipan, &c.
Otomi or Hia-hiu, Fame, Mazahua, &c.
Huaxtec, Totonac.
Tarascan, Matlaltzincan.
Mixtec, Zapotec, Mixe, Zoqae, Chinantco.

90 MEXICO, CENTEAL AMEEICA, WEST INDIES.

when kneeling, with motionless head and bust, fixed gaze, and upheaved chest,
have the aspect of ancient Egyptian statues ; so striking is the resemblance that, in
the language of Lucien Biart, " we dream despite ourselves of a possible kinship
between the two peoples." The Mexican Indian is extremely frugal and regular
in his almost exclusively vegetable diet, consisting mainly of beans, maize,
pimento, and bananas. In the family circle he is fond of occasionally drinking to
excess ; but whatever quantity of pulque or other intoxicating liquors he may take,
he is never affected by delirium tremens. The natives suffer from few ailments, and
those who escape from the convulsions and other disorders of infancy generally
arrive at mature age, though seldom taking the trouble to count the years of their
unchequered lives.

Nevertheless the Indians who have kept aloof from the European and settled
Mestizo communities, rejecting the culture and customs of civilised society, betray
that appearance of gloom and incurable sadness which seems to hang over races
destined to perish. They are always serious, silent if not sullen, and justly
suspicious. They seek the solitude, and reluctantly quit their native homes,
which are carefully enclosed by tall cactus hedges. Beyond their lowly hamlet
with its belfry fondly raised by the villagers, nothing seems to awaken their
curiosity. Nevertheless they follow with a furtive glance the man from whom
they have suffered wrong ; they can dissemble while awaiting the opportunity for
vengeance.

The half-castes, who tend more and more to constitute the bulk of the popula-
tion, are on the whole of more graceful form and more delicate frame than the
full-blood Indians. Like them, they have black and mostly lank hair, straight
and at times slightly flattened nose, and depressed brow. But what the features
lack in regular outline is always compensated by a kindly expression and winning
smile. The articulations of hands and feet are extremely delicate, notwithstanding
the tendency of the women to corpulence. It was stated at a recent meeting of
the French Anthropological Society* that of all clients of the French glove-
makers the Mexican and Peruvian Creoles have the smallest hands. The Mexican
civilian is noted for his quiet, easy carriage ; he is always courteous even towards
his most intimate friends ; unaffectedly polite even towards those against whom
he may bear a grudge. But despite a clear intellect he seldom betrays any marked
aptitude for any profession, and in youth he is easily led into dissipated, frivolous
ways. He is open-handed, shares freely with his friends, and with a light
heart will stake his all at a single hazard. "His purse burns," says a local
proverb, to give some idea of the recklessness of the Mestizo, which contrasts so
strangely with the greed of the pure Indian. Thus the Mixtecs and Zapotecs of
Oaxaca, for instance, are said still to hide away all their savings, concealing them
even from their own families, so that at the day of resurrection they may have
all the enjoyment to themselves. A prodigious amount of treasure is supposed to
lie buried in the ground in consequence of this practice, which, however, dates
from pre-Christian times. Property accompanied its owner to the grave, and

* February 6th, 1890.

THE ETJEOPEAXS OF MEXICO. 91

rich finds may vet be expected to be brougbt to light from the old burial-places
in this region.

The Spanish element amongst the iTestizo populations of the Mexican plateaux
was drawn chiefly fi"om Galicia, Astui-ia, and the Basque country, whereas the
settlers in the low-hing district of Vera Cruz were mostly Andalusians. Later
came the Catalonians ; but at no period did this tide of immigration assimie any
considerable magnitude, and it was arrested altogether during the war of independ-
ence. A large proportion of the 50,000 Spaniards at that time living in the
country were driven into exile, and then took place the opposite movement of a
return to the old country. Since the revolution a small stream of emigration has
again set towards Mexico, and especially towards the uplands ; amongst these
more recent arrivals are many natives of France and Italy, as well as of Xorth
Europe, and several thousand English and German settlers now reside on the
eleyated plateaux of the cold zone.

It was long supposed, on the faith of Humboldt's statement, that in Anahuac
altitude compensated almost exactly for the more northern latitudes of Europe,
and that consequently the European could here be rapidly and permanently
acclimatised. " ^ith the exception of a few seaports and some deep yaUeys,"
wrote the great German naturalist, "Xew Spaia must be regarded as a highly
salubrious country." Such it certainly is for the natives, who have become adapted
to their environment from time immemorial. But the comparative researches of
Joui'danet and other physiologists plainly show that northern and even southern
Europeans cannot settle with impunity on the higher tablelands, where the
barometric column stands normally at about 23 or 24 inches, consequently
where atmospheric pressure is one-fifth less than at sea-level ; hence the lungs
inhale in an hour about one ounce less of oxygen on these plateaux than on the
coastlands. The stranger residing on the uplands, where he supposes himself
to be acclimatised, nms more risk than the Indian, despite his greater attention to
hygienic precautions. He has especially to dread the dry season, that is to say, tho
three months of March, April, and May, when the aqueous vapour is insufficient to
stimulate the respiratory functions. Children born of Europeans are usually frail
waifs, difficult to rear and nearly always overtaken by premature old age. Even
for the natives themselves the yearly increase of the population is far greater in
the temperate than in the cold zone. The immigrants are more threatened on
the plateatix than on the lower slopes ; those even who settle on the burning
plains of the seaboard are relatively better armed after overcoming the yellow
or marsh fevers, and thus become more acclimatised than their feilow-cotmtrymen
on the elevated lands, where affections of the lungs, as well as dysentery and
typhoid fevers, are more prevalent.

On the seaboard phthisis is common enough, and often assumes a highly acute
form, except in the swampy districts where, so to say, it is driven out by the
marsh fevers. Thus these two formidable disorders divide the coastlands between
them. Another terrible scourge on the shores of the Gulf and especially at Yera
Cruz is yellow fever, which, though less frequent in winter, occasionally prevails

MEXICO, CENTEAL AMEEICA, WEST INDIES.

at all seasons. It would almost seem as if this malady was unknown before the
arrival of the Europeans in the country ; at least, medical men have failed to
identify it with any of the other contagious epidemics mentioned in the history
of Mexico. The first certain indication of its presence occurs so recently as the
middle of the seventeenth century in connection with some extensive earthworks
causing a disturbance of the soil. Its range is limited to about 3,300 feet on the
eastern slope of the plateau, and cases are very rare above 2,500 feet. But the
germs of the disease contracted on the coast may be developed on the uplands a few
days after the arrival of the patient, and then it assumes a very dangerous form,
frequently ending fatally. On the Pacific side the ports of Acapulco, San Bias, and
Tehuantepec enjoy immunity from yellow fever, which, however, is replaced by a

Fig. 36.— Peevailinq Diseases in Mexico.

Scale 1 : 24,000,000.

Cold Zone.

Altitude of 2,300 feet, limit of Yellow Feyer.
_____ 620 Miles.

bilious fever, whose attacks are rarely dreaded by the indigenous populations. The
vitiated taste which often develops a craving for earth, especially amongst the
women, is common in South Mexico. Even on the plateaux little pastilles of a
perfumed earth are exposed for sale at the markets, and never lack purchasers.

Mexico is also noted for certain ailments which have been observed in no other
part of the world. On the Atlantic slope, and especially at Orizaba, a serious
affection occurs caused by the moyoquU, a species of insect whose larva, deposited
under the skin, burrows into the flesh, where it raises a tumour as large as a hen's
egg. It is cured by the application of a turpentine plaister, by which the sore is
suppurated and the germ drawn out. Much more frequent is the so-called 2^into
malady, which afEects whole populations, especially in the states of Guerrero and
Oaxaca. This is a cutaneous affection which destroys the uniform colour of the

LOWEE CALIFOEXIA. 98

skin, in one place raising a patcli of white on a black ground, in another a dirty-
red on white ; then these patches gradually expand, often with a certain regularity,
until the body becomes mottled over like a piebald horse or certain snakes and
salamanders. Hence the tennjjinfo, or '•' painted," applied to this malady, which
in many upland valleys prevails jointly with goitre over the whole commimity.

Lo^wER Californli.

Lower California, at once the most remote, and geographically the most
distinct region of the republic, is at the same time the least important from the
political standpoint. It may, in fact, be said to be useless, except as presenting
a rampart of some 750 miles on the Pacific side of Mexican territory. "With a
scant poptilation of little over 30,000, and with scarcely any resources beyond its
mines, fisheries and salt-pits, it has not even been considered worthy of constitut-
ing a separate state, and still remains a simple territory belonging in common to
the whole commonwealth. It is so indifferently administered that the Korth
Americans have frequently crossed the fi-ontier of the peninsula to work the
deposits of ores and salt at their pleasure without even the formality of a previous
concession. Extensive salt-beds were long known to stretch along the west coast
round the shores of Sebastian Vizcaino Bay ; but basins of saline efflorescences are
so numerous in other parts of ilexican territory that the Spaniards had no induce-
ment to work these vast Califomian deposits. In 1884 some ilexican explorers
risiting the inlet known as Ojo de Liebre from a neighbouring spring, discovered
to their astonishment the remains of large mining works that had been constructed
by some American speculators. Here were landing-stages, platforms, depots,
railways, trucks, and other rolling stock, occupying altogether a space of over 3j
miles. Evidently a large number of hands had been employed on the works ; yet
the Mexican Government had never been informed of these extensive operations,
either because of the remoteness of the peninsula and lack of local population or
more probably owing to the remissness or venality of the officials.

About half of the Lower Califomian population is concentrated towards the
southern extremity of the peninsula, and chiefly in the vicinity of La Paz Bay.
The provincial capital, founded by the Jesuit missionaries, stands in the bed of a
waterless torrent on the north side of the bay, which is sheltered on the east
side by the rocky headland of Pichilingue.

A well-kept road, lined by norias or draw-wells, winds between orchards, vine-
yards, coffee and other plantations from La Paz southwards to the flourishing
village of Todos Santos, on the Pacific coast. This district is watered by a
perennial stream, a rare phenomenon in Lower California. La Paz thus possesses
considerable agricultural resources ; but its chief wealth stiQ consists in its gold
and silver mines, which were formerly far more productive than at present,
yielding large supplies of the precious metals under the Jesuit administration.
The richest lodes were said to have been blocked in 1767, when the missionaries
were expelled, and if so their position has been faithfully kept a profound secret
by the Indians ever since that epoch. i.

MEXICO, CENTRAL AMEEICA, WEST INDIES.

But however this be, certain mines, sucIl as those of Sail Antonio, south of
La Paz, are still very rich in auriferous ores, their annual yield exceeding
£480,000. At Marques, north-west of La Paz, a quicksilver mine is also worked.

La Paz is also the centre of important pearl fisheries in the Gulf of California.
The submerged rocks off Cape Pichilingue are covered with pearl oysters, which
are fished up by the Yaqui Indians. Whole forests of coral flourished in the
straits separating the island from the mainland, and here are collected as many as
nineteen different species of sponges, all, however, of a somewhat coarse texture.
Although the value of these fisheries, like that of the mines, has gradually fallen

Fig. 37.— La Paz.
Scale 1 : 11,000,000.

113' West of bree wch

0to5
Fathoms.

Depths.

6 to 25
Fathoms.

25 Fathoms
and upwards.

> 12 MUes.

off, the average annual yield is still estimated at about £10,000 on the spot. The
pearls are bought up by Jewish dealers of New York, who realise considerable
profits on the transaction.

Lorefo, which, like the capital, lies on the Gulf some 160 miles farther north,
was formerly the religious centre of Lower California. Here the Jesuit mis-
sionary, Salvatierra, established in 1697 the first fortified station, whence expedi-
tions were made into the interior to bring back captives, who were then manu-
factured into devout believers.

At the western foot of the neighbouring Giant Mountain lies the village of
Comondt), whore a small detachment of Mexican soldiers held out for four months
against greatly superior American forces. The architecture of this village, like

SONOEA. 95

that of all the older settlements in the peninsula, differs little from that of the
Zuni Pueblos in Xew Mexico. It consists of one huge square block enclosed by a
trench, and without any windows or other apertures on the outer sides. This
common stone dwelling is disposed ia two storeys, the first of which recedes a few
yards from the basement, and is reached by a ladder placed agaiast the wall. A
second ladder leads to the top of the building, whence the inmates get acce:^ by
trap-doors and more ladders to the rooms and inner court.

In recent years some commercial activity has been developed in districts which
were formerly desert or almost uninhabited. Thus the village of JIukge, lying on
the shores of Santa Inez Bay, over 60 miles north-west of Loreto, has become a
busy mioing centre since the discovery of auriferous deposits in the valleys of the
interior. Xear the United States frontier the village of Todos Santos gives its name
to the neighbouring bay, which ofiers excellent shelter to vessels engaged in the
coasting trade. The port of San Bartolome, which stands on the opposite side of
Cape San Eugenio, also attracts some shipping. But the best haven on the whole
coast is that of Santa ilagdalena, the narrow entrance to which has over 100 feet
of water in the channel. The spacious inner basin is large enough to accommodate
whole fleets.

SOXORA SiXALOA .

The State of Sonora, which faces the northern part of the Calif omian peninsula,
is also one of the least inhabited regions in the republic ; with an area of nearly
80,000 square miles, its population scarcely exceeds 150,000, or rather less than
two to the square mile. In 1859, the adventurer, Raousset Boulbon, who had
placed himself at the head of a band of French miners returning from California,
was for some time master of Sonora. The arable tracts, where the civilised Indians
and Mestizoes have formed settlements, are confined to the bottom lands of the
mountain valleys. Every town and village is encircled by a zone of irrigated land,
the settlements thus forming so many oases, some of which are connected together
by narrow strips of verdure. The very name of the country, from the Opata word
Sonoratzi, a " Place of Springs," originally applied to a cattle ranche, indicates the
important part played by wells in this arid region.

Amongst the Sonoran towns Santa Magdakna lies nearest to the United
States frontier, being situated on a headstream of the Rio de la Asuncion, which
flows west to the north end of the Gnlf of California. At the time of the
annual fairs the whole of the surrounding populations, white and red, American
and Mexican, form temporary camping-grounds in the valley of the river. Far-
ther south several settlements have been founded in the basin of the Rio Sonora ;
such are Ari^pe, in the territorv of the Opata Indians, formerly capital of the
state ; Ures, which succeeded it as centre of the administration, and which Kes
near the narrow gorges where the river escapes from the Sierra Madre on its
westerly course to the Gulf ; lastly Hermosillo, formerly Piiic, or the " Confluence,"
the largest town in Sonora and centre of a considerable agricultural industry. The
district which is irrigated by the last waters qI the Sonora, and its Cucurpe

96 MEXICO, CENTRAL AMEETCA, WEST IXDIES.

affluent, grows sugar and wheat, and its inhabitants claim that the yield of wheat
is proportionately higher than in any other part of the world. Nevertheless,
Hermosillo owes its importance not to its agricultural resources, but to the
mineral deposits discovered in the vicinity. Between 1867 and 1888, the local
mint coined a total sum of £2,640,000, chiefly in silver pieces. South-west of the
town rises the famous Cerro de la Campana, or " Bell Mountain," whose porphyry

Fig. 38.— Gttathas.

I Scale 1 : 170,000.

Fathoms.

2Jt0 5

Fathoms.

Depths.

BtolO

Fathoms.

10 to 25

Fathoms.

3 Miles.

25 Fathoms
and upwards.

blocks appear to vibrate with a silvery sound. The YaquI river basin, although
less thickly peopled than that of the Rio Sonora, contains in its upper valleys
a few industrious places, such as OjMsura and Sahuaripa, where the Indians are
engaged especially in the manufacture of cotton fabrics. Oposura, the old capital
of the Opata nation, has recently taken the name of Modczuma, in memory of the
former rulers of the land.

SrSTAT.OA. 97

The Stale of Sonora possesses on the Colorado river the little port of Lcnlo,
situated near a cliister of low islands where the Coeopa Indians gather the uniola
pa/mcri, an alimentary cereal till recently unknown to botanists. Much farther
south lies the seaport of Giiaijmas, so named from an extinct Indian tribe,
which was a member of the Pima family. The harbour of Guaymas is one of the
best in Mexico, and in a better-peopled and more flourishing district it could
not fail to acquire considerable economic importance. But the whole of the
seaboard is an arid waste; not a tree is to be seen, not a drop of water
wells up for miles around the port, which is encircled Kke a flooded crater by bare
rocks. The very shrubs growing in the town are rooted in soil brought from
the United States, and are irrigated by a brackish water drawn from deep weUs.
Nevertheless its excellent anchorage attracts to Guaymas an increasing number
of vessels, and the place has been recently brought into railway communication
with the mining and agricultural district of Hermosillo, as well as through Arizona
with the network of^ United States lines. The Guaymas traders export marine
salt and a little guano collected on Fafos, or " Duck " Island, an arid rock lying
north of the large island of Tiburon, or the " Shark." To these products may some
day be added an anthracite coal of excellent quality, large deposits of which are
found in the valley of the upper Mayo river.

Towards the southern extremity of Sonora lies the mining town of Alamos, or
the " Poplars," which, like Hermosillo, has its own mint, where are annually issued
from £350,000 to £400,000 worth of coins. Alamos lies just within the basin of
the Fuerte river, so named from the old Sinaloan fort of El Fuerte or Monfes
Claros, which guarded the seaboard from the Maj-o and Yaqui Indians, and which
has now become a flourishing little town.

The natural port both of Alamos and El Fuerte is Agiabampo, where are shipped
dyewoods and silver ingots and ores, but only by small craft, there being onlj' ten
or twelve feet of water on the bar at ebb tide. The old Indian town of Sinaloa,
which has given its name to the State of Sinaloa, has for its outport the' deep and
perfectly-sheltered haven of San Carlos, which communicates with the sea through
the strait of Topolobampo, which is accessible to vessels drawing sixteen or
eighteen feet.

CuUacan, present capital of the State of Sinaloa, is one of the old cities of
Mexico. In 1531, ten years after the conquest, it had already been founded near
Hue- Colli uacan, that is, " Snake Town," one of the stations on the line of the Nahua
migrations. At this place the Spaniards organised all their expeditions of disco-
very and conquest made in the direction of the north. Culiacan, which lies on the
river of like name in a fertUe district encircled by hiUs, is connected by a railway
nearly 40 miles long with its port of Altata, on a deep lagoon which is sheltered
from the surf by a long strip of sand. AU the gold and silver ores of Sinaloa are
forwarded through this place, and between 1846 and 1888, the Culiacan mint
issued gold and silver specie to the value of £8,200,000.

In South Sinaloa Hes the important city of Mazatlan, the most active seaport
on the west coast of Mexico. Its Indian name means " Deer-land," and one of

VOL. XVIT. H

MEXICO, CEXTEAL AMERICA, WEST IXDIES.

the islets on the neighbouring coast bears the Spanish designation of Venado,
which has much the same meaning. The researches made in the surrounding
alluvial districts have brought to light numerous remains of stags' antlers
associated with arrowheads, axes, and other stone weapons and implements. As
a seaport Mazatlan cannot compare in natural advantages either with Gruay-
mas or Acapulco ; the roadstead is exposed to all winds, and in order to avoid
the nor'westers, especially dangerous in these waters, vessels have to ride at

Fig. 39. — Mazatlas.
Scale 1 : 30,000.

West oF Gr.

eei^wich

I06'E7-

Depths.

Sands exposed at
low water.

0tol6
Feet.

16 to 32
Feet.

32toM
Feet.

, 1,100 Yards.

64 Feet and
upwards.

anchor in a part of the bay where the ground-swell rolls in from the soiith and
south-west. But for the export trade with California Mazatlan has the advantage
of lying exactly under the latitude of Cape St. Lucas ; in other words, it is the first
Mexican seaport reached by vessels arriving from San Francisco. Hence it has
become one of the chief ports of call for the regular steampackets, and thus have
been developed numerous local industries, such as saw-mills, rope- walks, foundries
and spinning factories, employing a large number of foreign hands.

Some 30 miles due south-east of Mazatlan is the little town of Chametla, that

SINALOA.

is "Cabins," in Aztec, a place wliich the early Spanisli navigators had endeavoured
to utilise as a seaport long before their attention was drawn to Mazatlan. From

Fig. 40.— Cathedbal of Chihttahua.

Chametla Cortes sailed in 1535 on bis expedition of exploration in the " Vermillion
Sea."

100 MZXi:0. 'rEATElAL AMEEICA. ■VTESI IST'lZ-S.

On tlie east slope of the Sierra Madre, the chief city in. Xorth Mexico is
Ckikiuiktuiy which is variously explained to mean the " City of "Water " or the
" Gtj of Plfiasnre." It stands at a mean altitude of 4,600 feet at the foot of the
lofl^ Cerro Grande, between two streams whose miited waters form the Conchos
afflocait of the Bio Braro del Xorte. An aqueduct deriyed from one of these
streams winds round the flanks of the mountain, separating the region of scrub
from the irrigated fidds and gardens of the slopes. Chihuahua is a decayed place,
which in the last centoiy, during die flourishing period of the surrounding mines,
is said to haTB had a population of 75,000, that is, about sis times more than at
piesenL The cathedral, erected and long maintained at the cost of the miners,
is an imposing stnicture towering abore all the surrounding buildings. Here
is also a mint, which has become the third most important in Mexico since the
work of exploring flie metalliferoas lodes has been resumed by American miners.
The ores which supply the Chihuahua mint come chiefly from the deposits of
Samta EidaUa, a village lying about 20 mQes to the south-east in a narrow glen
flanked by inhalnted caves. The argentiferous lodes of Santa Eulalia have
already famished to the trade of the world a quantity of silver estimated at
iS8,000,000. The ore is poor, but occurs in great abundance, so that when the
depc^ts are not wurted by companies the so-called gambmiiios, or private miners,
find enough metal to earn a livelihood. The very slag, which has been used to
build hundreds of houses in Chihuahua, or to enclose fields and gardens, is said
still to contain a percentage of aivear valued at not less than £80,000,000, so that
it has been proposed to submit it to a further process of reduction.

Another decayed place is CosiJutiriaehi, which lies some 60 miles to the south-
west in a vallev of the Siena Madre, and which during the last century had a
population of over 80,000. BahtpQag, which stands in the upper basin of the Ftio
del Fuerte within the Chihuahua frontier, has yielded altogether £12,000,000
during the 250 years that have followed the discovery of its deposits. Scarcely
le^ productive than the Batopilas mines are those of Guadalupe y Cairo, in the
Sinaloa river ba^ at the south comer of the state.

The eastern section of Chihaahua is an almost completely desert region,
whereas the w^item zone, comprising the slope of the Sierra Madre, is a land
of minra and forests, of gra^ heights and arable tracts. Here is ample room
for a large population, and in the xqtland valleys stock-breeding and horticulture
might be successfully carried on. Nearly all the towns in the state, San
Pablo Mtogni, Stmia Cruz de Bosales, Santa Smalia, Hidalgo del Parral, follow
in the direction from north to south parallel with the Sierra Madre, and lie
at the issue of the various fluvial valleys, whose streams form the Eio Conchos.
The railway from Denver City to Mexico traverses the state in the same direc-
tion, and penetrates into Mexican territory through the historic town of Paso
del Norte, which stands on the right bank of the Eio Bravo at the point where
fliis river beccmifis ih& common frontier between the two republics. Paso is

DUEANQO. 101

the oldest station in north Mexico, having been founded in 1585 by a Franciscan
missionary. This " ford," as the vrord means, was formerly much frequented by
the American convoys which conducted the transport service across the western
prairies between the Missouri and Mexico, but it gradually lost its importance,
owing to the competition of the ocean highways. Paso, however, has acquired
great commercial value since it has become the junction of the four railways
running to San Francisco, to New York through Denver, to New Orleans and to
Mexico. In 1889 its exchanges amounted to over £4,000,000. At the confluence
of the Eio Bravo and Conchos river stands the frontier military station of
Presidio del Norte, which lies beyond the trade routes, and, despite its strategic
value, has never risen to the rank of a town.

In the hiUy region stretching west of El Paso parallel with the Rio Bravo
prehistoric ruins are very numerous ; here are found the Casas Grandcs, " great
houses," of Chihuahua, the largest of the Nahua settlements whose remains stiU
survive in the northern part of Mexican territory. All that now remains of the
ramparts are some grassy mounds dominated here and there by the fragments of
crumbling walls. On the highest mound stood the ancient temple, and here has
been discovered a block of meteoric iron still carefully wrapped in cloth; it
was probably an object of worship, like the black stone at Mecca.

In its general outlines the State of Durango, lying to the south of Chihuahua,
presents the same aspect and forms part of the same geographical region that was
formerly comprised under the designation of Nueva Vizcaya, or " New Biscay."
The settlers are to a large extent of Basque origin, fully as energetic and indus-
trious as their Iberian ancestors. In this part of the republic the purely European
element is more strongly represented than elsewhere in Mexico. Like Chihuahua,
Durango comprises on the west the parallel ranges of the Sierra Madre, and on
the east side vast arid and partly desert plains. Consequently here also the chief
towns are all situated in the western section along the foot of the mountains.
Durango, however, occupying a more elevated and less arid part of the plateau, is
also more fertile and relatively more densely peopled than Chihuahua; the latter
state has only two, the former from four to six, inhabitants to the square mile.

Durango, the capital, is named from the Basque town of Durango, having been
founded in the j'ear 1551 as a strategic post in the territory of the Chichimec
Indians. Standing on a plateau 6,350 feet high, it commands a superb prospect
of the most diversified character, the view in one direction sweeping over the
gloomy ravines and fantastic gulches of the Brena, in another embracing the
highlands crossed by the highway to Mazatlan, the nearest port on the Pacific.
Durango is famous in geological records for its meteoric stones, which resemble
those found in many other parts of the Sierra Madre ; one block, mentioned by
Humboldt, is said to weigh from sixteen to twenty tons. But the great geological
curiosity of Durango is its huge rock of native iron, the Cerro de Mercado, so
named from a captain whom the hope of finding gold had attracted to these regions
in 1562, and who on his return from the vain quest perished in a conflict with
the Indians. This mass of iron, which lies over a mile to the north of Durango,

102 MEXICO, CENTRAL AMEEICA, WEST INDIES.

is 650 feet high, and contains above ground 460,000,000 tons of metal, enough to
supply the whole of North America for a hundred years. Like Chihuahua,
Durango prides itself on its sumptuous cathedral, and the city is dominated bv an old
palace of the Inquisition. The local mint issues gold and silver coins to a yearly
average value of about £200,000. Durango has often been called the " City of
Scorpions," and in 1865 a small price having been put upon these arachnidse, as
many as 55,000 were brought to the municipality in two months.

All the other towns in the state, such as Mezquital, Guarisamay, San Dlmas,
Pajmsquiaro, Tainazula, and Inde in the highland region, and Nombre de Bios, San
Juan del Rio, Cueneame, Nazas, and Mapimi on the lower parts of the plateau, owe
their origin and prosperity to their silver mines ; but the deposits also contain gold,
lead, and tin.

Extensive burial- groimds have been discovered in the caves amid the hills and
mountains encircling the Bolson de Mapimi wilderness. In these graves the bodies
are buried in a crouching attitude, and are wrapped in shrouds of agave fibre over
which are wound coloured scarfs. A single cave contained over a thousand of
these mummies, nearly all of which were carried off by American explorers, and
distributed amongst various collections in the United States.

Noeth-Eastern States — Coahuila, Nuevo Leon, Tamaulipas.

Coahuila, which is conterminous on the east side with Chihuahua, and which, like
it, is separated by the Rio Bravo from the United States, also resembles it in its
general relief. Coahuila has also its Sierra Madre, but on the opposite or east side,
while westwards it expands into vast desert wastes, where the running waters are
lost in saline meres or lagoons. Th£ slopes of the mountains, which are drained
by streams descending from gorge to gorge down to the Rio Bravo, are disposed
in delightful and fertile valleys siutable for cultivating all the plants of the tem-
perate and sub-tropical zones. Yet this region has still a population of less than
two to the square mile, and till recently it was exposed to the annual incursions of
the murderous Apache and Comanche marauders. In 1879, after the complete
submission of these ferocious Indians, a large number of immigrants were attracted
to the Sierra Mojada, where auriferous silver ores, apparently very productive, had
lately been found. But the hopes of the specidators were not realised, and most of
the immigrants were compelled by the lack of water and provisions to retire from
these arid uj^lands. The coalfields, also, which skirt the course of the Rio Bravo,
and from which one of the Mexican riverain stations took the name of Piedras
Negras, or " Black Stones," are no longer systematically worked. The future wealth
of Coahiula will be derived not from its mineral stores, but from the produce of
the soil. Monclova, formerly Coahuila, which stands on a headstream of the
Salado afiluent of the Rio Bravo, is surrounded by fertile plains, and long staple
cotton is grown at Santa Buenaventura in the environs.

Saltillo {El Saltillo or Leona Vicar io), capital of Coahuila, lies at the foot of a
slaty eminence towards the south-east corner of the state, in an upland valley on
the slope of the mountains separating Coahuila from Nuevo Leon. The running

KUEYO LEOX. 103

waters descending from the sierra flow northwards through a gorge in the range
to the San Juan affluent of the Rio Bravo. Saltillo was founded in 1586 by the
Spaniards, who placed here a garrison of Tlaxcaltecs to defend it against the sur-
rounding wild tribes, and from that time it continued to be the chief town of the
province, to which they had given the name of ^ew Estremadura.

Some six miles farther south, the highway enters an angostum, or " narrow
pass," between elevated liiUs, where stands the famous farmstead of Bitena Vista.
From this place are named a large number of localities in the United States
in memory of the two days' battle fought ia 1846 by the Americans against the
Mexican defenders of the pass.

Monterey, capital of the State of Nuevo Leon, is one of the old cities of
ilexico, its foundation dating from the last years of the sixteenth century. The
cirque of which it occupies the centre, and which is watered by the little Eio Santa
Catalina, an affluent of the San Juan, is surrounded by mountains of a foi'bidding
aspect, with bare rocky flanks and craggy peaks. Southwards is continued the
chief range of the Sierra Madre ; westwards is developed the Silla or " Saddle "
ridge, while to the north the system terminates in a bluif which, from its peculiar
shape, takes the name of the " Mitre." The grey, yellow, and red flanks of the
surrounding hills rise to a height of from 1,600 to 2,600 feet above the whole town,
which is encircled by a zone of orchards and orange groves. Monterey lies still
within the hot zone 1,600 feet above the sea, with long sultrj- summers and mild
winters free from snow. Its annual fair, held in the month of September, is much
frequented both by Mexicans and Americans.

The well-cultivated plains of the irrigated zone in Nuevo Leon yield heavy
crops of maize, besides wheat, beans, sugar, oranges, and all kinds of fruits. From
Monterey and the other agricultural centres of the state, such as Cadereyta Jimenez,
Montemorelos, Linares, and Doctor Arroyo, Tamaulipas and the other surroimding
regions draw their suppHes of alimentary produce, giving in exchange horses and
cattle. Thanks to the industry of the peasantry, Nuevo Leon, though not always
favoured with a sufficient rainfall, has flourished, and the local popidation has
increased rapidly. Its present density is about eight persons to the square mile,
that is to say, four times more than that of the other states of North Mexico.

Monterey forms the bidwark of the republic towards its north-west frontier :
hence ia the war of 1846 the .Americans began operations by seizing this strate-
gical position. Two railways converging at Monterey connect it on the one hand
through Nuevo Laredo on the Rio Bravo with the United States system, on the
other with the riverain towns of 2Iier, Camarno, Eeinosa, and Matamoros. Thanks
to this line Monterey has become the Mexican emporium for the lower valley of the
Rio Bravo. Each of the stations on the right bank confronts another on the left
through which the American traders introduce their wares, either by legitimate
traffic or by smuggKng. The two lines converging at Monterey are continued
through the republic by the grand trunk line of Mexico.

Of all the towns in the State of Tamaulipas, Matamoros Kes nearest to the
mouth of the Rio Bravo. Allowing for the winding of the river, it is 48 miles

104 MEXICO, CENTEAL AMEEIOA, WEST INDIES.

from the sea, the coast route having had to be constructed at some distance from
the Gulf in consequence of the fringing backwaters. Matamoros is of recent origin,
its site down to the beginning of the present century being still occupied by the
hamlet of Congregacion del Refugio, that is, the " Refuge " of all the French and
Meisican corsairs scouring the surrounding waters. In 1825, at the time of its
official foundation, it received its present name from one of the heroes of the
Mexican war of independence. Soon after the annexation of Texas to the United
States, Matamoros acquired great strategic and commercial importance as a frontier
station near the coast. Its outlet near the mouth of the Rio Bravo has received
the ambitious name of Bagdad, which, however, is scarcely justified by this humble
coast village. The bar is too high and too dangerous to admit large vessels.

Beyond Matamoros, North Tamaulipas is almost uninhabited. Nothing is
anywhere to be seen except a few scattered hamlets and vast haciendas, where
thousands of horses and cattle are reared. But in the centre of the state a con-
siderable population is grouped in towns and villages, which owe their existence
to the streams descending from the Sierra Madre. This part alone of Tamaulipas,
that is, "Olive-land," justifies its name. Here is Aguaijo, capital of the state,
now called Ciiidad Victoria. It lies on a main branch of the Santander, or Marina,
famous in Mexican history as the old Rio de las Palmas, where the fleets of Graray
and Camargo landed at the time of the conquest. Here also the ex-emperor
Iturbide attempted to re-enter the country for the purpose of again seizing the
reins of government ; but having been arrested he was brought to the village of
Padilla, at that time the capital, and shot by order of the Tamaulipas congress.

The city of Tula, which lies near the frontier of the State of San Luis Potosi
and on the plateau at an altitude of 4,100 feet, is an agricultural centre, whence
large supplies of maize, beans and pimento are forwarded to the lowlands.
Although founded hi the middle of the seventeenth century, Tula of Tamaulipas,
like the Tula of Hidalgo, has replaced an ancient city where have been discovered
the vestiges of temples and numerous vases, weapons, implements, and other
objects of the pre-Columbian age.

The route leading from Tula to Tampico, after crossing a pass 4,800 feet high,
descends to Santa Barbara, beyond which it rounds the base of the Cerro Bernal,
a nearly isolated mountain of a perfectly conic shape. Tampico occupies in the
south of Tamaulipas a geographical position somewhat analogous to that of
Matamoros ; it stands on a river not far from its mouth, and is surrounded by
extensive low-lying and unproductive plains. The present city dates from
the year 1823, when the Spaniards still held the fortress of San Juan d'Ulua,
which commands Vera Cruz, and which consequently obliged Mexico to seek
new outlets for its foreign trade. The old town lies within the State of Vera
Cruz on a thick bank of upheaved shells, and on a shallow creek accessible only
to craft of light draft. Another Tampico occupies the site of an old Huaxtec
village amid the dunes east of the Tamiahua lagoon. The new town, though
better situated on the chief river a short distance below its confluence with the
Tamesi and six miles from the sea, is not accessible to large vessels; those drawing

TAilPICO.

103

more thau eight or nine feet have to remain outside the bar, where they are
exposed to the winds and surf. But, higher up, the river is navigable for small
steamers some 30 miles above its mouth. The trade of Tampico has, at different
times, tmdergone great vicissitudes ; it was enriched at the expense of Vera Cruz
whenever this place was blockaded or occupied by foreign powers ; at other times
it was itself deprived of its export trade in consequence of local revolts or
political strife. Eecently a large share of the American traffic has been diverted
from this port by the opening of the continuous railway from the States through
Paso del Xorte to ilexico ; but it has again recovered its commercial importance

Tig. 41.— Tamkco.
Scale 1 : 130,000.

97-5?

West oF G'-ee''vv1c^^

Otoo
Fathoms.

Depths,

5 to 10
Fathoms.

10 Fathoms
and upwards.

. 3,300 Yards.

since the construction of the railway connecting this port through San Luis Potosi
with the Mexican system. Several lines of steampackets also connect Tampico
with the other large seaports on the Gulf and in the Caribbean Sea, as well as
with Xew York, Liverpool, Havre and Hambiu-g.

Some 30 nules above Tampico, and on the right bank of the Panuco, or
"Ford," stands the village of Panuco, formerly San Edehan del Puerto, which
recalls the memory of the Huaxtec kingdom conquered by Cortes, and so cruelly
laid waste by Xuno de Guzman. The whole district is still but thinly inhabited
compared to its flourishing condition before the arrival of the Spaniards. Higher
up on an affluent of the Panuco stands Tamquian, a town of Huaxtec origin, where

106 MEXICO, CENTEAL AMEBIC A, WEST INDIES.

archsDologists have made ntunerous finds, especially of monos, or "monkeys," that
is, rude himian figures.

I>aAND States — Zacatecas, Aguascalientes, San Lris Potosi.

The central or "inland" states, which rise in terraces towards the southern
extremity of the Anahuac tableland, are relatively to their size far more densely
peopled than the northern provinces ; the greater diversity of their relief, more
abundant supply of water and more exuberant vegetation, enable them to support a
far larger number of inhabitants. Yet the same arid aspect of the northern
regions is still maintained without much modification as far as the central parts of
Zacatecas and San Lms Potosi. Numerous local names, such as Rio Salado, Salitre,
Laguna Seca, Pozo Hondo, sufficiently attest the arid nature of the soil and the
brackish quality of its waters, while many villages owe their designation of Mez-
quite or Mezquital to the thickets of thorny scrub by which they are surrounded.
The traveller arriving from the United States by the Central Mexican Eailway
detects no marked change in the scenery until he reaches the town of Fresnillo.
This place stands, in fact, at an altitude of 7,300 feet, exactly on the divide between
the waters flowing north to the closed basins of the Bolson de Mapimi, and those
draining to the Pacific through the Rio Lerpia.

Zacatecas, capital of the state and of the old Zacatec territory, is one of the
earliest Spanish settlements in Mexico, having been founded by Nuho de Guzman
in 1540. The city occupies a group of deep and winding gorges, which are com-
manded on the north-east by the porphyritic escarpments of La Bufa surmounted
by a citadel and a church. Zacatecas is hemmed in between other rocky ramparts
furrowed by crevasses, whence the rain-water descends in cascades to swell a rising
tributary of the Lerma. Zacatecas owes its prosperity to the silver mines of the
surroimding porphyritic and schistose mountains interspersed with quartz and
calcareous beds. Some of the lodes are extremely rich, and those of San Bernab,
worked for three hundred and fifty years, are not yet exhausted. The most pro-
ductive are usually found, not in the ravines or on the gentle slopes of the hills,
but in the steepest places and even on the jagged topmost crests. Thus the reta
grancle, or " great lode," running north-west and south-east, three miles north of
Zacatecas, is embedded in a lofty summit 8,650 feet high, on which are perched
the dwellings and workshops of a mining village. Since 1810 the Zacatecas mint
has coined a sum of over £68,000,000 in gold and silver, and during the decade
from 1878 to 1888 the average yearly issue has been £1,150,000, almost exclu-
sively in silver doUar pieces. The little mining town of Somhrerete, lying about
125 miles north-west of Zacatecas, on the Durango road, had also Its mint, which,
however, has been closed since the war of independence. At the time of Hum-
boldt's \'isit the " black lode " of Somhrerete had j'ielded more metal than anj' other
vein in the whole of America. A village not far from Somhrerete bears the name
of Chakhihuites, or " Emeralds," from the greenish stones here found, which
resemble jade, and which were highly valued by the ancient Aztecs. The Zaca-
tecas district abounds in natural curiosities. Several small lakes contain carbonate

AGUASCALIENTES.

107

of soda, and some of these tarns are like deep natural wells with vertical walls, in
which the water rises and falls according to the seasons, but never runs dry. Hot
springs bubble up in several places, especially near the town of OJo Caliente, south-
east of Zacatecas.

The capital of Aguascalientes ("Thermal "Waters"), a small state almost entirely
enclosed in that of Zacatecas, has also its thermal mineral waters, which are sul-
phurous at a temperature of from 77° to 95° F.

Fig. 42. — Zacatecas.
Sc.ile 1 : 110,000.

i ' %

Fl r dd

^W"

sf£^

102^0' West oF Grcpnw rh

IQ2"25

3, 300 Yards.

Near Villanueva, some 30 miles south-west of Zacatecas, stands a hiU of tufa
naturally carved into circular cliffs, which give it the appearance of a fortified
plateau. This eminence is crowned with a group of structures, which must have
formerly presented an imposing effect, and amongst which archaeologists have
identified palaces and other dwellings, a citadel, a temple, and a pyramid bearing
the statue of a god. But the finest remains on this " Cerro de los Edificios " are
a series of steps, on which the spectators assembled in thousands to contemplate

108 MEXICO, CENTEAL AMEEICA, WEST INDIES.

the public feasts and sacrifices, but where the solitary traveller now surveys
nothing but ruins overgrown with scrub. Traces of these buildings are met strewn
over a space of 70 square miles. According to Clavigero, the Cerro de los Edificios
is the famous Chicomoztoc of the Nahua legends, that is, the "Seven Caves,"
whence the Aztecs set out on their wanderings to the Anahuac plateau. Another
ancient city, formerly capital of the confederation of the Nayarit people, lies 60 miles
south-west of the Qitemada, as the ruins are called, in a lateral valley of the Lerma.
Here, also, are seen the remains of a fortress and a temple overlooking the plain ;
Teul, the name of the old city, is the same as Teol, the Aztec title of the sun-god.

The State of San Luis Potosi resembles that of Zacatecas in its physical
appearance and the disposition of its two watersheds, one inclining towards the
northern depressions, the other facing the GuK of Mexico, and comprised within
the Panuco basin. Like Zacatecas, it is also one of the most productive mining
regions in the republic. But its agricultm-al and industrial importance is increasing
from year to year, and these sources already yield a larger income than its argenti-
ferous ores. Even the city of Caiorce, although lying in the arid northern part
of the state at an altitude of 8,850 feet, has discovered a considerable source of
wealth in the preparation of the ixtli fibre. Nearly all the silver coined in the
San Luis mint, from two to three million dollars a year, comes from the Catorce
mines. The city, which is said to take its name from the massacre of Catorce
("fourteen") soldiers, lies in a narrow gorge on a mass of rocky debris formed by
an old landslip ; its foundation dates from the discovery in 1773 of the rich lodes
in the neighbouring mountain, the pyramidal double- crested Cerro del Fraile.

San Luis, distinguished from so many other places of the same name by the
epithet of Potosi, indicating its great mineral wealth, no longer deserves Its title
since the famous San Pedro mine and most of the surrounding deposits have
been abandoned. The city stands on the site of the ancient Tangamanga of the
Chichimecs, in a depression on the edge of the plateau 6,230 feet above sea-level,
whence the running waters flow through the Rio Verde to the Panuco. San Luis
is so completely embowered in a zone of gardens and jjlantations that nothing is
visible from a distance except the domes of the numerous churches rising above
the surrounding verdure. Like Monterey, Chihuahua, and some other places, the
capital of the State of San Luis Potosi was for a time the seat of the Mexican
Government during the French invasion. It had already lost half of its popula-
tion, owing to the exhaustion of the mines to which it owed its prosperity in the
eighteenth century. The ojjening of the railway between Vera Cruz and Mexico
also diverted much of its trade southwards, causing a further decrease of popula-
tion. But the new line to Tampico has at last given it a direct outlet seawards,
and this cannot fail to be followed by a revival of its languishing trade and
industries. The district yields an abundance of cereals, fruits, vegetables, textile
fibres, and fermented drinks extracted from the maguey or other plants of the
same family. The citizens, noted for their enterprise and energetic habits, look
forward to the time when San Luis will take the second rank, if it docs not rival
Mexico itself in commercial importance.

GUAXA.JTATO.

109

All the other more populous and flourishing towns of the state, such as Rio
Verde, Santa Maria del Rio, Ciudad del Mais, are situated on the south-eastern
slopes of the plateau facing towards Tampico. The mining town of Guadakazur,
which lies in a limestone dista-ict to the north-east of San Luis, is a decaved place,
while Salinas, to the north-west, as indicated by its name, abounds in salt-mines
and saline lagoons, the most actiTely worked in the rcpublci.

GrANAJXTATO, J.VLISCO A^•D Tepic, Colima, Michoacax.

The political divisions of the diSerent states are far from coinciding with their
natm-al Kmits. This is largely due to the fact that the present frontiers were
fixed by the Spanish administration according to the disti'ibution of the tribes

Fig. 43. — Sax Lrrs Potosi— Goveejckest Paiace.

and languages, religious or executive considerations, and especially the interests
of the great European or Creole landed proprietors.

Kevertheless a certain accidental coincidence may occur between the political
boundaries and physical conditions of the various provinces. Thus the four States
of Guanajuato, of Jalisco with the Tepic territory, of Colima and ITichoacan,
constitute a sufficiently distinct natural region, comprising the basins of the Eio
Lerma and other streams, which flow from the western slope of the Anahuac
plateau down to the Pacific. These regions, where the hot, temperate and cold
climates are disposed in vertical order one above the other, possess a great
abundance of different products. But they do not yet enjoy the same facilities
of communication as the eastern slope of the Mexican tableland, the seaports on
the Pacific side not being yet connected with the general railway system. The

110 MEXICO, CEXTEAL AMERICA, WEST INDIES.

population, however, which has considerably increased during the last few decades,
is relatively dense, averaging nearly forty to the square mile.

Of these states Guanajuato, which lies nearest to the capital, is best provided
with communications and has been longest settled by the whites ; hence it is also
the richest and the most thickly peopled in proportion to its extent. Guanajuato,
its capital, stands at an altitude of 6,700 feet in a deep and narrow gorge flanked
by bare jagged cliffs, and accessible only by a single winding path. Here the
houses with their flat roofs rise one above another like a heap of dice piled up
in disorder. The mining villages are grouped here and there along the escarp-
ments, and the workshops are scattered over the terraces and in the depressions.
One of these industrial centres is the famous Vaknciana, where the reta madre,
or main lode of Guanajuato, nowhere less than 30 and ia some places over 160
feet thick, constitutes an enormous mass of argentiferous ores, which, between the
years 1768 and 1810, gave an annual yield of over £1,520,000. This is the
deepest mine in Mexico, having been worked down to 2,000 feet below the surface.
But since the war of independence it has been flooded, and more than one English
company has in vain attempted to resume operations, yet the lode is still supposed
to contain from £280,000,000 to £320,000,000 of silver.

La Luz, a to-mi h'ing a short distance to the north-west in the group of the
Gigante or "Giant" Mountains, is also surroimded bj' mineral deposits. At
present the Guanajuato mint yearly issues specie to the value of £950,000, of
which £160,000 in gold, the rest silver, nearly all derived from the surrounding
mines. These Guanajuato mines have become famous in physiography for the
subterranean rumblings often heard in them. In 1784 they were so violent that
the terrified inhabitants took to flight, although the underground thunders were
accompanied by no earthquakes. One of the neighbouring hills takes the name
of the Bramador, or "Roarer." Guanajuato is one of the historic cities of the
war of independence. Here the insurgents, aided by about 20,000 Indians and
armed only mth knives and sticks, gained their first victory ; the plunder was
enormous, about £1,000,000 having been taken in the citadel alone. The little
town of Dolores, whose parish priest was Hidalgo, leader of the insurrection, lies
some 25 miles north-east of Guanajuato ; since the revolution it has taken the
name of Dolores Hidalgo.

Guanajuato is rivalled in population by Loon de los Aldamas, which, like the
capital, lies on an upper affluent of the Pao Lerma, but in a far more accessible
position and under a more agreeable climate. The citj', which is dominated on
the north bj' the group of the Giant Mountains, spreads over a fertile and well-
cultivated plain at the north-west extremity of the alluvial zone, which, under the
name of Bajio, sweeps in crescent form right across the wliole State of Guanajuato.
Leon, which despite its large size has never ranked as a capital, possesses nume-
rous factories, and here are specially produced the rich saddles and trappings so
much affected by the Mexican cavaliers. The railway which traverses the Bajio
zone, and one branch of which runs to Guanajuato, passes close to nearly all the
important towns of the state. Such are Silao, dominated by the Sierra de Cubilete,

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JALISCO. Ill

and rich in silver-mines and thermal springs ; Ii-apuato ; Salamanca with its cotton
mills; Celaija, a watering- place and a manufacturing centre, producing cloth,
carpets, soaps and leather. San Miguel Allende, or simply Allende, another indus-
trial town, dating from the first years of the conquest, lies on a plain to the
east of Guanajuato, while Salvaticrra and Vallc Santiago occupy depressions
in the lake-studded plateau which stretches southwards in the direction of
Michoacan.

The Eio Lerma, which at Salamanca enters the formerly lacustrine basin of the
Bajio, sweeps southwards round the San Gregorio heights, and then traverses a
second very broad valley before losing itself in Lake Chapala. La Piedad and
La Barca, both surrounded by numerous hamlets, have sprung up on the banks of
the river, and in the interior towards the south stands the town of Ixtlan, with its
hundreds of mud volcanoes dotted over the plain. Westwards along the banks
of the great lake there are no large towns. Chapala itself, which lies on the
north side, is an obscure place, remote from all the highways of communication.

East of this town is seen the island of Mexcal, which is identified with the
mythical Azflan, whence the Nahuas trace their origin. In 1812 the Indians
of the surrounding shores took refuge in this island under one of their priests,
and here defended themselves for five years against all the attacks of the
Si^aniards.

Guadalajara, capital of Jalisco, lies some twelve miles from the left bank of
the Lerma, at an altitude of 5,120 feet, on a plateau watered only by a few inlets.
Founded in 1542, it has always been one of the chief cities of Mexico, thanks to
its geographical position at the converging-point of the highways ascending from
the Pacific seaports towards the plateau. Its population has increased from 20,000
at the beginning of the century to over 100,000 ; it has thus greatly outstripped
the Spanish city from which it has been named. As a mining centre Guadalajara
cannot be compared with Zacatecas or Guanajuato ; nevertheless its mineral wealth
is considerable, for the local mint annually coins silver pieces to the value of from
£240,000 to £280,000. But Guadalajara takes the second place amongst Mexican
cities as an agricultural and manufacturing centre, being noted especially for its
rehozos and other textiles, its paper, starch, cigars, metal and glass wares, and
sweetmeats of all sorts. The springs which suppKed the city having proved
insufficient for the rapidly increasing population, it has been proposed to supply
it with water by a canal derived from the Rio Lerma above the Juanacatlan Falls ;
this aqueduct might also be so constructed as to furnish motive power for the
workshops of the city.

The pleasure resorts of the wealthy classes of Guadalajara are for the most
part scattered over the San Pedro hills, some miles from the city. Towards the
east the Rio Lerma, here 540 feet wide, is crossed by the bridge of Totolotlan, a
work dating from the Spanish period. Farther on the route is carried over a
northern affluent of the Lerma by the famous bridge of Calderon, where the insur-
gents met their first reverse in a battle which was long supposed to be decisive. In
the neighbourhood, between the towns of Zapotlanejo and Tepatitlan, is still seen the

112

MEXICO, CEXTEAL AMERICA, WEST INDIES.

ruined pyramid of a temple known as the " Cerrito de Montezuma." On an
affluent of the Lerma, north-east of Guadalajara, stands the town of Lcir/os, in an
angle of the state midway between Aguascalientes and Guanajuato. Thanks to
its geographical position Lagos promises to become the common emporium of
several of the upland states ; its markets are already much frequented, though to
a fiir less extent than the annual fairs of the neighbouring San Juan de los Lagos,
which lies at a much lower elevation in a depression of the valley. Bolanos. a
smaller place than Lagos but formerly more important as a mining centre, also
lies on a northern affluent of the Lerma, the Rio Jerez, but in a region of difficult
access at the outlet of a formidable gorge dominated by jagged rocky walls. South

Fig. 44.— San Bias.
Scale 1 : 700,000.

I05'40

West 6? Greenwich

Depths.

0to5

Fathoms.

5 to 12

Fathoms.

12 Fathoms
and upwards.

12 MUea.

of Bolanos and beyond the Lerma, the town of Tequila stands at the foot of a high
precipitous clilf ; this place is famous for its maguey brandy, commonly known as
tequila.

The town of Topic, capital of a separate territory, lies like Guadalajara some
distance to the south of the Rio Lerma, the lower course of which it may be said
to command. Its prosperity is due to the salubrity of its position, 3,000 feet
above sea-level, in the midst of gardens and orchards, and on the edge of a
volcanic plateau within sight of the Pacific Ocean. It thus serves as a health
resort for the ports of this malarious seaboard, on M^hich are deposited the alluvia
of the Rio Lerma. When the conqueror, Nuuo de Guzman, took possession of this

JAUSCO. 118

region, he selected another site some twelve miles farther south, but also on the
edge of the plateau, and at the same distance from the coast. Here was foimded
the town of Compostela, which was long the strategic centre of the whole of west
Mexico, but which is now a decayed village. The old Indian city of Jalisco, which
has given its name to the state whose capital is Guadalajara, lies four or five miles
to the south of Tepic on the slopes of the igneous Cerro San Juan.

At the issue of the mountain gorges, where the Eio Lerma, called also Rio
Grande de Santiago, debouches on the low-h-ing coastlands, stands Santiago, now
a mere village of no maritime importance ; large vessels can no longer force the
dangerous bar to ascend the course of the river to any inland port. Hence San Bias,
the present port of the Lerma basin, lies to the south of the allu^dal plain, not
far from the escarpments of the Sierra de Tepic. Foi-merly one of the lateral branches
of the Lerma discharged into the San Bias harbour, but it was obstructed during
the war of independence, and since then it has remained closed. The port is well
sheltered from the winds ; but the approach is narrow, and has a depth of less than
thirteen feet at low water. But such as it is, San Bias is the most frequented
seaport on the west coast of Mexico between Mazatlan and Acapulco. The old
town stood above the harbour on a bluff of black basalt, accessible only from the land
side. Since its destruction during the ci^il wars, it has remained a mere ruin
almost entirely overgrown with vegetation. The present San Bias, which lies on
the coast, consists of a group of houses and cottages shaded by cocoanut groves
and inhabited chiefly by people of colour.

The Eio Ameca, which discharges into Banderas Bay south of San Bias, has
given its name to the chief town in its basin. Ameca and the neighbouring Cocula,
lying in an extremely fertile district studded with lakes and dried-up lacustrine
depressions, will one day present a shorter route from the coast to Lake Chapala
than the loundabout road rxinning north by Tepic and Guadalajara. But Ban-
deras Bay is everywhere exposed to the surf, and the town of Mascota, occupj--
ing a sheltered position in a glen at the foot of the Bufa de San Sebastian cliffs,
has no haven on this inhospitable seaboard. The nearest anchorage is that of the
little port of Chamela, over 60 miles farther south.

South of Lake Chapala, the two industrial and pictui-esque towns of Sai/iila
(4,420 feet) and Zapotlan (4,3'20 feet), the latter called also Ciudad de Guzman,
form convenient stations on the route leading fi-om Guadalajara to CoUma. This
provincial capital, formerly Santiago de los Cabal! eros, was foanded by Cortes in
the first years of the conquest, at an alti^ade of 1,485 feet, on the advanced spurs
of the hills which form the pedestal supporting the two volcanoes of " Fire " and
"Snow." A river, whose nimierous feeders descend from the deep gorges scoring
the flanks of the moimtains, passes to the west of Colima, irrigating its gardens,
coffee, sugar, and cotton plantations. So favourable are the conditions of soil and
climate that the plains of Colima might become one of the most productive regions
in the world under a less primitive system of husbandry.

The future railway, by which these fertile plains are to be connected with the
general Mexican system, has already made a beginning with a coastline which

VOL. x^^I. I

Ill

MEXICO, CENTKAL AMERICA, WEST INDIES.

runs from Jtlanzanillo, tlie port of Colima, along a strip of sand on the south side
of the Cuyutlan lagoon. This shallow basin is entirely dry during the hot season,
and it is now proposed to place it in constant communication with the sea by
cutting a canal through the narrow intervening neck of land. The port of
ManzaniUo, which is developed in the rocky coast immediately to the west of this
sandy isthmus, is spacious, deep, and well sheltered from aU winds except those
blowing from the west and south-west. These prevail especially during the rainy
season, from May to October, that is to say, the healthy period of the j'ear ; but
during the dry season the climate of ManzaniUo is much dreaded. Some sixty
miles south-east of this plain lies the little port of Maniata, which, while quite as

Fig. 45. — Mauzanillo.
S(ale;i : 1,110,000.

I04'?0'

West oF Greenwich

I03'40'

0to25
Fathoms.

25 to 60
Fathoms.

Depths.

50 to 100
Fathoms.

100 to 500
Fathoms.

18 Mfles.

unhealthy, is even more exposed than ManzaniUo. The coast salines between
these two ports occupy during the season from 5,000 to 6,000 native hands.

The State of Michoacan is one of those regions that have long resisted assimila-
tion with the rest of Mexico. The Tarascan nation had never been subdued by the
Aztecs, and their chief bore the title of " Booted " in a pre-eminent sense, because, of
aU native princes, he alone had the right of wearing his boots in the presence of
Montezuma. Proud of their ancient Uberties, the Tarascans had at first welcomed
the Spaniards as mere aUies, and three hundred years later, during the war of
independence, no other Indian warriors displayed greater valour and steadfastness
against the disciplined troops of Europe. It was in the town of Apacinffan, in one
of the low-lying fluvial valleys converging ou the Eio Mexcala, that was held the

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IIG MEXICO, CENTRAL AMERICA, WEST INDIES.

densely-peopled region in tlie republic. Here the population is in the proportion
of about C4 to the square mile, so that the centre of gravity of the Mexican
nation has not been shifted since the epoch of Toltec civilisation, that is to say,
for a period of at least a thousand years. This centre, however, could scarcely be
removed to any other region, such as Durango and Zacatecas, possessing greater
mineral resources, or Michoacan and Oaxaca, enjoying the advantage of a more
exuberant vegetation ; for the Anahuac tableland has the still greater advantage
of being the natural converging-point of all the routes coming from the north
between the Mississippi and the Rocky Mountains, while at the same time com-
manding like a citadel both slopes of the country.

The State of Queretaro, where rise the first headstreams of the Panuco, is of
relatively small extent. Its northern section, also, where are situated the towns
of JaljKtn, Tollman, and Cadereijta, is but sparsely peopled, most of the inhabitants
being concentrated in the southern division, where begin on the one hand the
great plain watered by the Bajio tributary of the Rio Lerma, and on the other the
headwaters of the Rio San Juan, a main branch of the Panuco. In this valley Lies
the town of San Juan del Bio, a delightful " city of gardens." Queretaro, which
gives its name to the state, is situated at an altitude of 7,000 feet, close to the
Avaterparting between the two slopes. Its foundation is attributed by historians
to the Otomi people ; but although it is said to date from the middle of the
fifteenth century, all its buildings are of Spanish origin. Of these the most
remai'kable is an aqueduct of seventy-four arches, rising about 80 feet above the
ravine. A reservoir, recently constructed above the city, contains a volume of
over 35,000,000 cubic feet of water. Queretaro is one of the industrial towns
of Mexico, being noted especiallj^ for its soaps, cigars, and cotton yarns ; the
spinning-mills occupy thousands of native artisans. About half a mile west
of the city is situated the Cerro de las Campanas, on the slope of which is the
little monument of three stones, indicating the spot where the ill-fated emperor
Maximilian and his two generals, Miramon and Mejia, were shot in 1867.

The state bearing the name of Hidalgo, in memory of the priest who first
siunmoned the Mexicans to rise against Spain, is of recent formation. Here the
towns, such as Zimapan, Jacala, Mextitlan, and Huejutla, the ancient city of the
Huaxtec nation, all stand at considerable distances one from the other. Thus
the population is centred chiefly in the extensive fertile plains of the south, which
are enclosed by a highly productive hilly mineral region. Here lies, not far from
Actopan and the fantastic "Organ" Mountains, the capital, Paehuea, an ancient
city, now connected by a branch line with the Mexican railway system ; in the
neighbourhood are the gold and silver mines, which were already worked by the
natives in pre-Columbian times. The mining district of Regla, between Pachuca
and Atotonilco, has become famous under the name of Real del Monte, recently
changed to Mineral del Monte. Vast quantities of silver were extracted from these
deposits before the mines were ruined by inundations and the biu'uing of the
surrounding forests. Since the war of independence, the works have been
reopened bj' Cornish master-miners, who now employ thousands of native hands.

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118

MEXICO, CENTRAL AMEEICA, WEST INDIES.

monly knovm, even during the first years of the Spanish conquest, by the name
of Tenochtitlan, or " Nopal Stone ; " in fact, its arms, now adopted by the republic,
represent a stone rising above a lake, and bearing a nopal tree, on which an
eagle has alighted. The European city has sprung up precisely on the site of
Montezuma's capital. During the siege of Mexico, Cortes systematically destroyed
every block of buildings, in order to deprive the advancing enemy of all cover.
Eut when he rebuilt the city in 1522, he followed exactly the original plan, street
for street, quarter for quarter, every Spanish barrio thus succeeding every Mexican
calimlU. The centre of the ancient city in this way became the great plaza, or
square, and the cathedral rose on the site of the chief temple dedicated to the god

Kg. 46. — Ancient Mexico.
Scale 1 : 400,00(1.

. a Milea.

of war. The city of Tlateloko, which had originally formed a sort of trading
quarter distinct from the military city of Tenochtitlan, was also absorbed in the
New Mexico. It stood on the ground at present occupied by the northern quarter.
But although standing on the site of the ancient Aztec capital, the aspect of the
modern Mexico has been so completely changed that its former inhabitants could
no longer recognise it. Tenochtitlan was essentially a lacustrine city, entirely
surrounded by water, and connected with the mainland by causeways and embank-
ments. But the waters have now subsided sufficiently to leave the new capital
high and Avj, and even surroimded by a grassy zone. The causeways formerly
traversing the lake have become highways, and the canals in the interior have
been filled up and transformed to avenues. Seen fi'om a distance, the federal
capital presents an imposing ai^pearauce. This white city, overtopped by domes

,.:f^^?-^^^

CITT OF MEXICO. 119

and pinnacles, spreading widely over tte vast plain, and bounded in the hazy

distance by an amphitheatre of majestic monntains, harmonises completely with

120 MEXICO, CENTEAL AMERICA, WEST IKDIES.

the natural enTironment. The traveller, viewing it from some commanding site,
might weU be tempted to exaggerate the part played in history by a city occupying
such an imposing position. " "We stood rapt in amazement," exclaimed Bernal
Diaz. " "We declared that the city resembled those enchanted abodes described in
the book of Amadis, and some of our men asked whether the vision was not a
dream."

Mexico is laid out with great regularity, the streets, mostly too narrow, being
disposed at right angles, Uke those of Chicago and Philadelphia ; but this monoto-
nous arrangement is somewhat broken by the squares and gardens occurring at
intervals. The houses, with their terraced roofs and inner courts Uke those of
eastern cities, are solidly built with a yellowish sandstone, or a red lava called
tezontle, and are usually of only one storey, the better to resist the slight but some-
what frequent earthquakes. In the centre of the city is situated the great square
(plaza), where, are celebrated all public solemnities, and where converge the currents
of business and pleasure, alternating with the hours of the daJ^ On one side of the
square stands the cathedral, which replaces the church erected by Cortes on the
spot where stood the teocaUi, or temple of the war-god, ever reeking with the blood
of human victims. The very pillars of the new edifice rested on the great idols, in
order that they might be for ever crushed by the indestructible column of the holy
Christian religion. The present church, which took nearly a centiiry to build, is
a sumptuous monument of imposing appearance, and to it is attached the Sagrario,
another church with a fa9ade as luxuriously carved and sculptured as a Hindoo
palace. A second side of the plaza is occupied by the National Palace, which is
said to have been erected on the site of Montezuma's palace. It is a vast building,
with a frontage considerably over 220 yards long, and containing the senate, the
Government offices, the ministries, besides the post office, museum, and library.
The other two sides of the square are skirted chiefly by houses with porfa/es, or
arcades, where there is a constant movement of loungers, pedestrians, and itine-
rant dealers. In the middle of the square is the fine promenade of the Zocalo, or
" Socle," shaded with the eucalyptus, and adorned with flower beds, fountains,
and statues.

In the Mexican museum are preserved valuable natural history collections,
amongst which are those fossils which the conquerors supposed to be the "bones
of giants," but which are now known to be the remains of large animals belonging
to the quaternary fauna. Still more interesting is the archaeological collection,
comprising such antiquities as escaped the iconoclastic fury of the first conquerors
and the research of foreign collectors. Here is the precious " Mexican Calendar,"
on which is sculptured the division of time according to the ingenious Aztec
system. It is a huge block weighing 21 tons, which must have been brought
from a groat distance, for no rocks of the same geological formation occur in the
neighbouring mountains. The " Stone of Tizoc " (p. 71), which represents the pro-
cession of people vanquished by that hero, and which was long supposed to be the
" stone of sacrifice " belonging to the great temple, is another treasure preserved
in this museum, where may also be seen the hideous statue of Huitzilopochtli,

CITY OF MEXICO. 121

"god of war," hieroglypliic paintings, Montezuma's shield, and the effigies of
several deities. Every year adds to the contents of the National Museum, and
systematic explorations made in the groimd, and especially in the lacustrine
depressions, cannot fail to reveal numerous other treasures. Mexico already
possesses some large scholastic establishments, notably a school of medicine now
installed in the old palace of the Inquisition, and a preparatory school occupying the
old convent of the Jesuits. Aztec literature is studied in a college founded for
the Indians ; several learned and literary societies publish useful memoirs ; the
chief library has over 150,000 volumes; the picture-gallery is one of the richest
in the Xew World.

The population of Mexico has increased fivefold since the beginning of the
century ; nevertheless it has already been outstripped by many cities of more
recent origin. A himdred years ago it was the largest place in the New "World ;
now it is exceeded not only by Xew York and several other cities in the United
States, but also by some of its rivals in Latin America. Xevertheless, Mexico,
situated on the " bridge of the world " between the two oceans, is assuredly one
of the vital points of the planet, one of those points whose historic importance
cannot fail to advance with the general progress of the world. It has doubtless
lost the trade between the Philippines and Spain which it had formerlv enjoyed
through colonial monopolies ; but on the other hand the internal traffic has greatly
developed. Bernal Diaz already remarked that " no European city possessed a
market comparable to that of the Anahuac capital ; at least none possess such a
fruit market, where are seen in abundance the products of every zone — cherries and
pears side by side with pineapples and bananas." One of the most curious sights
in Mexico is that presented every morning on the Tiga Canal by the flotillas of
boats ladened with flowers, fruits and vegetables. The wholesale import trade is
almost entirely in the hands of English, American, German, French and other
foreign traders. These industrious strangers have nearly all acquired a position of
comfort, while the native population of mendicants, feperos, pelados or pordioseros,
still swaiTns in the suburbs.

Despite the pure air descending fi-om its snowy mountains, Mexico is not a
healthy place. The mortality, which in certain years has exceeded the births
four times, averages from 32 to 33 per thousand, which is much higher than
that of London, Paris, and most other cities of West Europe. This high death-
rate is due mainly to the impurity of the soil and waters. Mexico stands only a
few inches above the level of Lake Texcoco, with a subsoil of impermeable argil-
laceous deposits : hence the least excavation on the surface of the ground becomes
at once flooded with a brackish water saturated with organic substances. The
gradual upheaval of the bed of Lake Texcoco threatens destruction to the city, which
has already been more than once laid under water. After every downpour, the
streets are filled with slush, and when the rains last long enough the whole place
becomes transformed to a swamp or even to a veritable quagmire. The roadways
are also badly kept, while the drains, flooded with an almost stagnant water, con-
tribute much to the putrefaction of the soil. "The city is threatened with asphyxia,"

122

MEXICO, CENTRAL ATSIEEICA, WEST INDIES.

is an expression occurring in a report on the sanitary state of the place. But if
foul water abounds in Mexico, the pure water brought from a distance by
aqueducts is far from sufficient for the wants of the people ; in 1882 it was scarcely
880,000 cubic feet per day, or less than twentj' gallons per head of the population.
The drainage of the subsoil itself presents grave difficulties ; by carrying off the
overflow, which gives consistency to the marshj' ground, the b\xildings are apt to
lose their centre of gravity and to topple over at the least vibration of the surface.
The gradual drying up and shrinking of the land has already caused rents and
fissures in most of the large structures, while others have sunk several feet in the

Fig. 48. — 3IEX1C0 AND IT3 ENnEOXMESTS.
Scale 1 : 120,000.

99"iO

Wast oF Gree

. 3,300 Tarda.

oTOund. It is now regretted that, in order to secure his triumph, Cortes decided
to rebuild the city exactly on the site of the old capital, and lay the foimdations of
his churches on the temples of the gods, instead of selecting a new position on the
more elevated land which stretches westwards to the neighbouring mountains.
The wealthy quarters, however, are already stretching out in this direction. Certain
villages, such as Casablanca and Tacuhaya, where the national observatory has been
established, are gradually expanding and becoming connected with the capital by
avenues lined with buildings. Mexico is thus steadily moving westwards towards
the less tainted rising groimds. The city is adorned with some fine promenades,
such as the Paseo and the Alameda, where a fountain Indicates the site of the
ancient Quemadero, that is, the " burning-place," of the Inquisition. Victims of

CLi

a
o

124

JIEXICO, CENTEAL AMERICA, WTSST INDIES-

ginous waters, are crowned by the church of Guadalupe, formerly one of the
richest in the world, but now spoiled of its treasures bj' the National Government.
The Virgin of Guadalupe is the special patron of the Indians, while Our Lady
de los Eemedios was formerly regarded as the tutelar saint of the Spaniards.
Under the old regime an incessant struggle was carried on between the devotees
of the two sanctuaries ; but the war of independence secured the definite triumph
of Guadalupe, so that religion and patriotism are now merged in a single cult.

On the west side of Lake Texcoco, east of the capital, a volcanic eminence
rises above the saHne waste, which is made a receptacle for the refuse of the

Fig. 49. — Tlaxpam and Lake Xochtmilco.

Scale 1 : 190,000.

Ixtapalapa ''

Mexicalcin^o ■-

Reyes l\T>- ..j^*^^ts.

■%Toma<lam

99-14'

West op GreenwicK

99-5'

3 Miles.

neio-hbouring towns. The Pefion de los BanbS, as this eminence is called, is the
source of a copious ferruginous spring, and here geologists have found some
fossil human remains.

The Viga Canal, whose waters reach the capital at its south-east extremity,
is derived from Lake Xochimllco, or the "Flower-garden," one of the southern
basins of the Mexican valley. This canal traverses a low-h-ing district cultivated
by Indian market- gardeners, and their plots are commonly designated by the
same term, chinampas, which was also applied to the floating islands of the Aztecs,
formerly moored in hundreds on the surface of Lake Texcoco. But Lake Chalco,
or the " Emerald," forming an eastern continuation of Xochimilco and encircling
a cone with a perfectly regular crater, bears in this respect a much more close

EXYIEONS OF MEXICO.

125

resemblance to the Texcoco of Montezuma ; in the middle of the marshy depres-
sion maj" still be seen numerous other cbinampas, resting on matted beds of
aquatic plants and covered with soil brought from a distance. But these plots,
which are intersected by acalotes, or trenches, are not supported by movable
rafts ; on the contrary, they gradually form compact masses attached to the shore
and steadilj' encroaching on the lacustrine basin. Ixtapalapa, or "TThite Town,"
formerly a great ilexican citj' with ''fifteen thousand houses," accordiiig to Cortes,
stands near the head of the Yiga Canal at Lake Xochimilco, tinder the EslreUa
or " Star " peak, famous in the religious history of Mexico. Here the priests

Fisr. 50. — IxBiAN Maekei-Gabdesee's Caxoe.

assembled at the end of every cycle of 52 years in order to keep up the succession
of time by solemnly opening a new cycle. Facing the capital at a distance of
sixteen miles in a straight line on the opposite side of the lake is seen the now
obscure town of Texcoco, which preceded Mexico and which was long its rival.
Texcoco was the ancient residence of the Toltec chiefs and the " Athens " of
Anahuac, for here the Xahuatl language was spoken in its greatest purity and
elegance. Texcoco has the advantage over Mexico of beiag built on healthy
groimd above the level of the highest inimdations. The Puerto de las Brigantinas,
that is, the spot where Cortes built a flotiUa to reduce Mexico, Ues now consider-
ably over a mile from the margin of the lake. North of Texcoco stands the
still more ancient city of Otamh,i, formerly Oiompan, which would appear to have

12fi MEXICO, CENTEAL AMEEICA, WEST INDIES.

been the capital of the Otomi nation before the arrival of the Toltecs on the
Anahuac plateau; it was on the plains of Otumba that Cortes by a decisive
victory repaired the disaster of the " Sorrowful Night." Otumba and its eastern
neighbours, Irolo and Apam, surrounded by the most productive maguey planta-
tions in the republic, are important strategical points guarding the entrance to
the plains north of the snowy Ixtaccihuatl range. The migrations of conquering
or vanquished peoples must for the most part have passed through this gateway,
the possession of which was in former times frequently contested. Eut it was
avoided by Cortes, who boldly ventured to cross the great range directly by the
Ahualco pass between Ixtaccihuatl and Popocatepetl. Practicable tracks may
also be found by rounding the southern flanks of this mountain through the
village of Amccameca, which encircles the old eruptive cone of Sacro Monte, now
overgrown with oak-trees. Near the gorge of Apam, or between Texcoco and
Otumba, there still stand two temples which are supposed to have been erected
by the Totonacs ; these are the two pyramids of Teotihuacan {TeutUhuacan) , or
"Abode of the Gods," which are known as the "House of the Sun" and " House
of the Moon." Reduced to the condition of mere mounds overgrown with agave
and thorny scrub, they are now diiflcult to recognise as human structures. Never-
theless the explorations made on the spot leave no doubt as to their artificial
character. The first or southern pyramid is the broadest and highest, forming
a square of 700 feet and 180 feet high ; the second, that of the Moon, is both
much smaller and 36 feet lower, and both face the cardinal points, though not
with mathematical accuracy.

Farther south other mounds are scattered over the plain, in some places
numerous enough to form avenues, such as the "Way of tke Dead," so named
either because these knolls are really old burial-places, or because it indicates the
route formerly followed by the processions of human victims on their way to the
sacred slaughter-houses. East of Apam the plateau rolls away to the southern
foot of a border range inhabited by a population of Totonac miners, who are
chiefly grouped round the towns of Zacatlan and Tetcia del Oro. On this plateau
stands the town of Tlaxdo, and farther south in a narrow glen is seen Tlaxcala,
formerly capital of the brave republic which espoused the cause of Cortes against
Montezuma. At present it is the chief town of a small state, which about coin-
cides with the limits of the old republic, and which is dominated eastwards by
the Malinche volcano. But Tlaxcala is no longer the great city which could at
one time marshal 100,000 warriors against the invader. Another decayed
Mexican city is Huexotzingo, which was founded by the Olmecs, and which is
constantly mentioned in the reports of the conquerors.

In this district the most important place at present is Puehla de los Angeles,
" Angel Town," which was built by the Spaniards on an uninhabited jjlain in the
year 1530 as a residence for those whites who had been left unprovided for in the
distribution of ofiices after the conquest. This flourishing citj', capital of a thickly
peopled state on the plateau and the first slopes facing the Pacific and Atlantic,
is sometimes called the " second capital of the republic." Under the ephemeral

PUEBLA, CHOLULA. 127

reign of Maximilian there was even a question of removing the administration to
Puebla, which enjoys a far more healthy climate and lies in a more fertile region
than Mexico. It stands at an altitude of 7,160 feet, that is, something less than
the federal capital, on an inclined plain, whose rapid streams flow westwards to
the Mexcala, which winds away to the Pacific. All these rivulets are fed by the
melting snows, and serve to irrigate the surrounding plains, which yield abundant
crops of all sorts. Dominated by the two square towers of its sumptuous cathedral
and by the belfries of over fifty churches, Puebla was formerly inhabited by a
fanatical population extremely hostile to strangers ; more than once travellers had
to seek the protection of the troops to avoid being stoned as " Englishmen,"
" Jews " or " heretics." The place is noted especially for its rcbozos, or scarfs, its
cotton yarns, and for the preparation of little figures in wax or alabaster, sculptured
vases, onyx stands, and similar objects connected principally with church decora-
tion. Lying about midway between Mexico and the edge of the plateau, Puebla
formerly stood on the main route of nearly all the transit traflac between the inte-
rior and Vera Cruz. But it has lost this commanding position since the opening
of the main railway from Vera Cruz to the capital, though still connected with
the general system by branches running eastward, west of the Malinche volcano-
Puebla owes its prosperity to its great agricultural resources. It also promises to
become a much-frequented health resort, especially for strangers suffering from aifec-
tions of the chest ; in the neighbourhood are copious sulphurous thermal springs,
which probably owe their special properties to the volcanic deposits of Popocatepetl.
The two steep hills of Guadalupe and Loreto, rising north-east and north of Puebla,
recall the two most important military events in the modern records of the nation.
During the war undertaken against Mexico for the restoration of the monarchy,
General de Lorencez, after forcing the passes and reaching the edge of the plateau at
the head of 6,000 men, had sent off a despatch announcing that he was already "master
of Mexico." But right in front of Puebla he found the route blocked by a force
of 12,000 troops, under Zaragoza, which held possession of the city and of the two
fortified convents on the hills. The attack made on May 5th, 1862, ended in failiu'e,
and the French invading army had to retreat to the lower slopes of the plateau.
Next year an army 20,000 strong again advanced on Puebla, and began a
regular siege of the place. The investment lasted 62 days, during which the
Mexican garrison defended every post and station, yielding only after exhausting
ammunition and supplies, and then partly dispersing to join the troops that held
the plains.

Although a large place, Puebla is still inferior in size to the famous city of
Cholula, which formerly stood in the neighbourhood. This holy city of the Olmecs
and later of the Aztecs, at one time centre of the textile and pottery industries
of Anahuac, and founder of the colonies as far south as Nicaragua, is now an obscure
village and railway-station eight miles from Puebla on the opposite side of the
deep gorge traversed by the Rio Atoyac. Chiirultecal, as Cortes calls it, is described
by him as containing 20,000 houses in the central part, and an equal number
in the outskirts. "Prom the summit of one of the temples," he adds, "I

128

MEXICO, CENTRAL AMERICA, WEST INDIES.

Fig. 51.— PUEBLA IN 1862.
Scale 1 ; 120,000.

have counted over 400 towers, all belonging to other sanctuaries." But a
few days after contemplating this panoramic view, the conqueror began the
work of destruction by fire and sword. Of the 400 temples nothing now
remains except a few shapeless mounds covered with vegetation. But one of
these Ij'ing to the south-east of the city is a veritable hill of bricks and layers of
earth, as shown by the explorations and the cuttings made for the road and the
railway passing at its foot. According to the local tradition this hill was con-
structed by order of a giant in honour of the god Tlaloc, who had saved him from
a deluge, and all the bricks used in the building were passed from hand to hand
by a string of workmen reaching all the way from the slopes of Popocatepetl
to Cholula. Its present height, though greatly diminished as shown by the
irregular sky-line, is 175 feet above the plain, while its enormous base covers an

extent of 42 acres, nearly four
times more than that of the
pyramid of Cheops. No other
isolated human monument
approaches these vast propor-
tions. The platform on the
summit, where the chapel of
Our Lady de los Eemedios
now replaces Quetzalcoatl's
temple, has an area of about
5,000 square j'ards, forming a
stupendous esplanade whence
the eye glances from the vil-
lage and gardens of Cho-
lula to the glittering domes of
Puebla, from the forest-clad
slopes of Malinche to the snows
of Popocatepetl.

Before the construction of
the Yera Cruz railway Puebla
had as its outpost towards the Atlantic the town oiAmozoc, at the converging point
of the roads to Jalapa and Orizaba. Tepeaca, a little farther on near the outer ram-
parts of the plateau, also possessed great strategical importance, and Cortes himself
had chosen this place as a stronghold and Spanish colony under the name of Segura
de la Frontera, " Safeguard of the Frontier." Next to Vera Cruz, Tepeaca was the
earliest Spanish foundation in Mexico. This angular corner of the plateau has
suffered a loss of trade since the main line of the Mexican railways passes farther
north by Iluamantla and San Andres de Cliakhicomula, the station dominated by
the cone of Orizaba. Near Chalchicomula, on the very edge of the plateau, the
station of Usperaiiza lies about midway on the main line between Mexico and
Vera Cruz. Although occupying a part of the plateau draining to the Pacific,
neither Puebla nor Cholula is connected by railway with that ocean. But the

98' 14' West oF Gree-^-iCh

98° 10'

. a,300 Yards.

YEEA CEUZ. 129

locomotive has already descended to the temperate zone on this slope, reaching
Matamoros de Izucar through AtUxco, where is seen a cypress 74 feet in circum-
ference. Towards the south-east angle of the state another line runs from the
plateau down to Tehuacan, or Teotihuacan, " City of the Gods," whose sumptuous
temples were compared by the Spaniards to the palaces of Grenada.

Teea Crvz.

This state occupies all the hot zone skirting the Gulf of Mexico, besides a part
of the temperate lands, from the Rio Panuco to the Eio Tonala beyond Coatzacoalcos.
It thus extends north-west and south-east a total distance of about 410 miles. Despite
the marvellous fertility of its upland districts, which lie half-way up the slope, and
are well exposed to the fogs and rains of the Atlantic, Vera Cruz is not one of the
populous states of the confederacy ; within its limits are comprised some forest
lands, as well as sandy, desert, or marshy tracts. The capital has often been
displaced, and the city which gives its name to the state was itself for some years
the seat of the government. Orizaba also, for a time, held the same position,
which at present is enjoyed by Jahpn. This place stands on the slope of the
extinct ilacuiltepec volcano, which is furrowed by deep gorges. Formerly it
occupied the rim of a plateau, also scored by eroded gullies. But according to
the local tradition, the inhabitants of this first Jalapa were so decimated by the
epidemic of 1537 that they left the place in a body, and settled a little distance
off on a sunny slope on the opposite side of a neighbouring gorge. The new city,
with its regular streets winding amid the gardens, is one of the healthiest places
in Mexico. From its superb avenues is unfolded a magnificent prospect, embracing
on the one hand the forest-clad heights of the CordiUera from the Orizaba peak
to the Cofre de Perote, on the other stretching over the orchards and meadows of
the meandering Eio San Juan vaUey, and again in the far east to the strip of dunes
fringiug the blue Atlantic waters. Although a small place, Jalapa is one of the
most important historic cities in Mexico. It occupies a station which is indispens-
able to all invading armies, to all travellers and traders journeying between the
coast and the plateau. Formerly, when the commercial monopoly belonged to
Cadiz, and when the trade with Europe was limited to a fleet forwarded every four
years, Jalapa was the great market-place for the distribution of the imports and
the purchase of Mexican produce ; hence its title of Jalapa de la Feria, or, as we
should say, " Market-Jalapa." It has now lost this commercial role, but it is still
a health resort, at once a hospital and a convalescent home for the people of the
lowlands. The yellow fever has never reached Jalapa, which as a sanatorium is
not only extremely salubrious, but also possesses in the neighbourhood numerous
efficacious mineral waters, hot and cold, saline and sulphurous. The numerous
•products of the district surrounding Jalapa, Ciudadde las Flores, " City of Flowers,"
fnuts, cereals, and vegetables, serve mainly for the local consumption ; it exports
little beyond its medicinal plants, especially the root of ipomea purga, which bears
the name of this place. The plant is collected by the Indians of the surrounding

VOL. XVII. K

130 MEXICO, CENTEAL AMEBIC A, WEST INDIES.

communes, especially Chiron- Quiaco, a village which lies 20 miles farther north,
and the products of which are the most highly esteemed.

Jalapa is connected with the Mexican railway sj'stem by a branch which skirts
the north side of the Co/re de Fcrofc, and then traverses the little town of that
name. Here is a magnificent and apparently impregnable citadel, which was
built at a great expense by the Spanish viceroys for the purpose of guarding the
highway between Vera Cruz and Mexico. Merely to keep it in repair cost over a
million dollars yearly. But it may now be easily turned, and the citadel of Perote,
deprived of its strategic importance, has been transformed to a state prison.

Coafejyec, which lies in the midst of orchards and plantations some nine miles
south of Jalapa, is also a favourite resort of the coast people. But the little
centres of population following lower down in the direction of Vera Cruz already
lie within the dangerous zone which is yearly visited by yellow fever. Several of
these places have an historic name, having been the battleground of armies con-
testing the possession of the routes leading up to the plateau. Amongst them is
the Cerro Gordo, the passage of which was forced by the American troops in 1847.
Lower down is the Pueiite Nacional, formerly Ptiente del Reij, a monumental bridge
which crosses the deep barranca of the Rio Antigua. South of Jalapa and Coatepec
several other towns occupy positions on the escarpments of the plateau analogous
to that of Jalapa itself. The roads which here creep up the slopes at heights
varying from 2,800 to 4,000 feet, are scarcely rivalled in the whole world for
their magnificent views and endless variety of scenery. On emerging from the
leafy avenues formed by the overhanging bi'anches of conifers and other forest
growths, the traveller suddenly beholds snowy Orizaba and surrounding ranges,
with their spurs, terraces, wooded lava-fields, and the lower plains extending in
the hazy distance down to the curved margin of the blue Atlantic. The flanks of
the mountains are furrowed from base to summit by gloomy gorges several
hundred yards deep ; but the walls and taluses of these gorges, where the tracks
descend as into bottomless wells, are concealed by dense thickets, in which are
intermingled plants of the torrid and temperate zones. Along the banks of the
creek flowing on the bed of the barranca, the explorer treads his way as in a vast
conservatory beneath the pendent foliage of palms and tree ferns.

Orizaba, which lies in the very heart of the mountains at the foot of Borrego,
has also a more continuous rainfall than Jalapa, and the exhalations rising from
the ground are more dangerous. It stands on the site of the ancient Ahuilitzajyan,
or " Glad Waters," over 4,000 feet above sea-level, on a terrace whose thriving
plantations are irrigated by copious streams of pure water.

Nearly all the maritime trade of the state, and about half of all the exchanges of
the republic, are concentrated in the port of Vera Cru%. The village of Pueblo
Viejo (Old Town), over against Tampico, in Tamaulipas, is little more than a
detached suburb of that place. Farther south, Tuxjxtn, accessible only to small
craft, has a yearly trade of scarcely £200,000. For some time the works have
been in progress which arc intended to connect it with Tampico by a navigable
canal traversing the Tamahua and other coast lagoons. On the whole seaboard,

VESA CEUZ.

I3i

stretching 135 miles soutli of Vera Cruz, uo sheltered haven anywhere occurs, the
shore being here everj^vhere fringed -with sands and surf. The old port of Ifciufh,
which formei-ly gave its name to the whole coast, is now choked with mud.

The modern city of Yera Cruz is not the same place as that to which its
founder, Fernan Cortes, gave the name of Villa Rica de Vera Cruz. K^evertheless,
the first camping- ground must have stood on the beach not far from where the

Fig. 52. — Obizaba.
Scale 1 : 60,C'W.

West oF C-T-een>vlch

. 2,200 Yards.

present quays have been built. It was then removed farther north to the village
of Quiahuifzlan, which, however, was badly chosen, being unhealthj- and destitute
of any shelter. Hence, four years later a third city was founded farther south near
the populous Zempoala, capital of the Totonac territory. The river watering the
plantations of the surrounding district took the name of Antigua in 1599, when
this settlement was also abandoned, owing to the bar which prevented all access to
the estuary. The fourth city is that which now exists, and which was founded on
the coast over against the fortified island of San Juan d'Ulua. It was certainly

182 MEXICO, CENTRAL AMERICA, WEST INDIES.

difficult to fiiid a favourable site on sucli an inhospitable coast, studded witb shoals,
and surrounded by arid or sandy flats and marshy wastes. Medanos. or dunes, raise
their yellowish slopes immediately beyond the outskirts of the city, changmg their
form and positions with every storm ; under the influence of the north winds, some
of these sandhills rise to a height of 160 or 170 feet.

Seen from a distance Vera Cruz, surrounded by all these medanos, presents a

Fi". 53. — SUCCESSIVB DlSPIAOEMENTa OF VeEA CeW.
Scale 1 : 600,000.

96 go We t 6? Greenw'.ch

Depths.

- 86°

0to5

Fathoms.

6 Fathoms
and upwards.

12 3Iiles.

far from attractive appearance ; hence most travellers not detained by business, and
aware of its evil reputation as a hotbed of fever, pass rapidly on to the more agree-
able cities of the interior, especially in the hot season when " yellow jack " prevails
on this seaboard. The epidemic is said to have carried off 2,000 persons in 1862 m
the Ciudad de los Muertos, " City of the Dead," as it is called in Mexico. Neverthe-

184

MEXICO, CENTRAL AMEEICA, WEST INDIES.

said to have originally cost Spain and Mexico £8,000,000. Sucli a sum might
have heen applied to a better purpose by constructing the piers and breakwaters
required to convert into a sheltered harbour the dangerous roadstead where ship-
ping has hitherto had to ride at anchor. Such works, however, have at last been
taken in hand.

Still farther south lies the roadstead of Anton Lizardo, formerly San Antonio
Nizardo, which is sheltered by a large cluster of islets and reefs. Eut with all
its disadvantages, the port of Vera Cruz still remains the chief trading-place on

Fig. 55. — Habboue Works in Peooeess at Veea Cetjz.

Scale 1 : 40.000.

T9°

WestoFG,

Deptlis.

0to2i
Fathoms.

2^ to 5

Fathoms.

5 to 10
Fathoms.

2,200 Yards.

the Mexican seaboard, monopolising nearly two- thirds of the exchanges of the
republic. Eut any further delay in constructing a safe and {'.eep harbour could
not fail to divert the traffic of Vera Cruz to more favoured places. A large
number of travellers proceeding to Mexico already prefer the more expensive
railway route to the sea voyage across the Gulf of Mexico. The largest
share of its trade is with England, after which follow the United States, Germany,
and France in the order indicated. Coffee and hides are the chief articles of
export, England and France also taking the fibre of a species of zaeaton {epicanipes)
used in making fancy brushes.

MOEELOS. 135

The village of Mcdellin, nine or ten miles south of Vera Cruz, recalls the visit
of Cortes, who in 1522 named this place after his native town in Estremadura.
The railway is continued beyond this place south-westwards across the dunes and
forests to the port of Alcarado, on the north side of a large estuary where converge
the Papaloapan and other streams. The port, which is encircled by high sand-
hills, is accessible to vessels' drawing eight or ten feet. Here is chiefly shipped
dried fish cured in large quantities b}' the fishermen who comprise nearly the
whole population. These fishermen are said to be descended from Spaniards who
took part in the battle of Lepanto, the anniversary of which victory is still solemnly
kept. The local skippers also visit the port of Tlacoltapam, the " City of Mos-
quitoes," which is situated at the confluence of the two navigable Rivers Papa-
loapan and San Juan.

MoRELOs, Guerrero, axd Oaxaca.

The section of the republic lying south of the great volcanic chaia, comprises
only the three States of Morelos, Guerrero and Oaxaca, together with parts of
Mexico and Puebla. Although all the inhabitants of this region, whites. Mestizoes
and even Indians, took an active part in the war of independence, their country
has remained far more secluded from the general industrial and commercial move-
ment than the other provinces. South of Morelos and Yautepec no railway has
yet been constructed down to the Pacific, and all the feeders of the general system
stop within a short distance of the plateau. But whenever thej' become connected
with the rest of Mexico these southern provinces, abounding as they do in natural
resources, will scarcely continue to lag behind the other states ; for their inhabi-
tants are amongst the most energetic and industrious, and at the same time the
most upright in the whole commonwealth. They have also the advantage of
possessing on their seaboard the best harbour in Mexico.

Citernaraca, capital of Morelos, is not a Spanish foundation, as might be
supposed from the name, which is a corruption of the Aztec Cuauhnahuac.
Communicating directly with Mexico, through a pass running east of the Cerro
de Ajusco, this ancient citj' lies on the Pacific slope about 2,000 feet below
the federal capital and consequently in the temperate zone. Its lovely oasis of
verdure is enclosed on thi'ee sides by profound ravines, and its climate is one of the
mildest and most equable in the republic ; all the plants of West Europe here
flourish side hj side with those of the torrid zone. Fernan Cortes made a good
choice when he asked for the fief of this valley, where his castle is now replaced by
the municipal palace. South-west of this place stands the best-preserved Aztec
fortress in the republic, the so-called Xochicaico, or " Castle of Flowers." It
occupies an isolated hill 386 feet high, which is encircled by trenches cut in such a
way as to form five successive terraces with steps of dressed stone. The whole struc-
ture presents the appearance of a truncated pyramid, with its four sides exactly
facing the cardinal points. Its basaltic porphyrj' blocks, all brought from a distance,
are embellished with hicroglj-phics and figures in relief, amongst others those of
fantastic animals with human or saurian heads, seated cross-legged, Asiatic fashion.

136

MEXICO, CENTEAL AMEEICA, WEST INDIES.

The city of Morelos, whicli, although not the capital, takes the same name as
the state, is the ancient Ctiautla Amilpas, the "Saragossa" of New Spain, which
for several months held out against the united forces of the Spaniards. It enjoj^s
the same delightful climate as Cuernavaca and the neighbouring Yautepee ; here
the sugar-cane thrives, and the fruits raised in the district are now forwarded to
Mexico by a railway which crosses a saddleback, strewn with little volcanoes, at
an elevation of 9,730 feet. Morelos, like the other towns of the state, is watered
by copious streams flowing to the Rio Mexcala. On a northern affluent of the

Fig. 56. — ACAPULCO.
Scale 1 : 120,000.

93° 57-

West dr. Greenwich

99°55-

0to5

Fathoms.

6 to 10
Fathoms.

Depths.

10 to 25
Fathoms.

25 to 50
Fathoms.

50 Fathoms
and upwards.

, 3,300 Yards.

same river, but in the State of Guerrero, stands the town of Ta.rco, whence the
Aztecs obtained lead and tin, and where the Spaniards made their first essays at
mining work in New Spain. On another tributary lies the famous Iguala, where
in 1821 was issued the "plan" which the belligerents accepted, and which put
an end to the Spanish rule in Mexico. Between Taxco and Cuernavaca lies the
famous Cacahuamili)a cave, whose marvellous galleries, sources of springs and
rivers, have already been explored for a distance of six miles.

The semicircular roadstead opening east of the Mexcala delta is too much
exposed for shipping ; a more favourable anchorage is afforded by the neighbour-

GUEEREEO, OAXACA. 187

ing bay of Siguanfaneo, some 60 miles north-east of Zacatula. According to tte
plans of Gorsucli and Jimenez, this should form the Pacific terminus of the Mescala
Talley raHTvay, a southern section of the interoceanic line, -loO to 500 miles long,
which it is proposed to construct from Tuxpan right across the republic.

Chilpancingo, capital of the State of Guerrero, is a small place standing at an
altitude of 4,560 feet on the elevated parting-line between the ^lexcala valley
and the Pacific Ocean. Acapidco, its admirable seaport on the Pacific, has but
little traffic. Sailing vessels have ceased to visit it, but it remains a regular port
of call for steamers. The harbour, which presents the form of a vast crater
breached towards the Pacific, is accessible to the largest vessels, which here find
complete shelter. But the fringe of palms and bananas does little to mitigate
the intense heat in this pent-up cirque, where the solar rays are reflected from
side to side of the surroimding granite cliffs. An opening has been made at
great expense through the west side, to give access to the cool sea breezes.

Antequera, an old Spanish foundation dating from the year 1522, has resumed
the name of the Zapotec fortress of Suaxiacac (Oa.vaca), which lies three or four
nules farther west. This place, laid out with perfect regularity, is almost un-
rivalled in ^ilexico for the beauty of its gardens and the fertility of the surround-
ing plains. A river bearing the Aztec name of Atoyac, or " Punning "Wafer,"
traverses the district, where, at a mean elevation of about 5,000 feet, the plants
of both zones are intermingled in endless variety. One of the chief industries of
Oaxaca is the spinning and weaving of the fibre extracted from the species of
bromelwort known by the name of jjifa. The whole "valley" of Oaxaca, with a
present population of about 150,000 souls, was formerly the private domain of
Cortes, whence his title of " Marques del Yalle."

A few remains of Zapotec structures are seen in the neighbourhood of Oaxaca,
especially towards the west, where the city of Huaxiacac formerly stood on Mount
Alban. The ruins of Mitla, the best preserved and according to some travellers
the finest in Mexico, He some 30 miles to the east. Standing midway up the
slope of moderately elevated hUls, which, Hke those of Greece, stand out sharply
against the horizon, the group of Mitla palaces, with the great pyramid whose
temple is now replaced by a CathoKc shrine, presents somewhat the aspect of a
dilapidated Acropolis. These edifices may also be compared with the Hellenic
monuments of the better epoch in the beauty of their proportions and workman-
ship. The walls are disposed in great parallelograms arranged in long horizontal
bands, aU embellished with regular designs, cross lines, lozenges, fretwork in
straight or inclined lines, but with scarcely any curves.

The waters flowing from Oaxaca, Mitla, and the intervening hills all converge
sis miles south-east of the capital near the village of Sania Maria del Tide, or of
the " Eeeds." Trees of colossal size are not rare in this region, and the houses
of the village are grouped round the largest of these giants, which was formerly
regarded as sacred. It is a sahino, or "cj-press" {taxodiu.m mucronatum), which
is said to be the largest tree in the whole world ; at least it exceeds in thickness
all those of which measui-ements have been taken. The so-called "' Hundred-

133

MEXICO, CENTRAL AMEEIOA, WEST I^^DIES.

Horse Chestnut " is now divided into three distinct stems, through which a road
has been driven ; the dragon-tree of Orotava, which had a girth of 46 feet, has
disappeared ; the gigantic sequoias of California were felled in I800 ; the Mon-
travail oak near Saintes is 86 feet round, and the largest baobabs and other
African giants are described by Cadamosto, Adanson, and others as from 96 to
112 feet in circumference. But in 1882 the Tule cj'press had a girth of no less
than 118 feet three or four feet from the ground, and 150 feet including all the
prominences and cavities of the trunk.

The route from Oaxaca to the sea, leaving on the right the valley of the

rig-. 57. — Chief Rums of Centeal Mexico.
Scale 1 : 9,000,000.

S2-

West pF Green.v^ch

m Miles.

Atoyac, which winds away westwards to the frontiers of Guerrero, runs at an
altitude of 7,460 feet over the crest of the Cimaltepec coast range. Near the summit
stands the industrial village of Miahnatlan, whose inhabitants are skilful straw-
plaiters, which thej' work into a thousand fancy articles exported far and wide.
The cochineal industry was formerly the chief resource of the district, but the
southern slopes are now covered with coffee plantations which yield excellent
results. Hence the cultivation of the shrub has been rapidly developed even to
a distance of 40 or 50 miles inland. The high prices obtained by the growers
have enabled them to introduce costly machinery for drying and sorting the
berry. Thanks to this growing industry Puerto Angel, the badly sheltered outlet

OAXACA.

189

of Oaxaca, has acquired some commercial importance since its foundation in 1868.
On tlais coast the best harbour is that of Huafulco {Guatuko, Coafoko), where a
channel 650 j-ards wide gives access to a well-sheltered basin from 25 to 50 feet
deep. The little fishing station of Crespon, which collects pearl oj-sters and the
purple-yielding.murex, stands on the beach within the harbour. At a neighbour-
Fig. 58.— Isthmus or Tehttaittepec.

Scale I : 2.600,000.

Tu r%V' ^P"

3 A A° 'S Ma a if

4 V ^Chmaap, ^tS

<■•.-?>'* '

95'20

West or GreenwicK

. CO Miles.

ing headland the sea plunges into a cavernous recess, reappearing farther ofE in
a biifadero, or jet, about 150 feet above the surface.

About one-third of the state is drained by the Rivers Papaloapan and Coatza-
coalcos, which belong to the Atlantic basin. On this northern slope the chief
place is I.rtlan, which lies in a fertile district of the upper Papaloapan valley
ever against the superb Mount San Felipe. Ixtlan now also bears the name of

MEXICO, CENTEAL AMEEICA, WEST EsTJIES.

ViUn Juarez, from the most distinguished of its citizens, the Juarez who main-
tained Mexican independence against ilaximilian. In the eastern part of Oaxaca
the chief town is Tehuantepec, or " Tiger Mountain," an old city of the Huabi
people, which was founded at an epoch previous to the Zapotec occupation of the
land. It is the only place in the district deserving the name of "town," and it
is so completely divided into separate quarters by mounds and ridges that it has
rather the aspect of a group of villages. In the vicinity are some magnificent
palm and orange groves, and gardens yielding. choice fruits.

"While proud of its past, Tehuantepec is still more confident of its future, as
controlling one of the future commercial highways of the world. The railway

, .59. — Sauna Cbfz. the kew Poet of TzHrA^-rEPEC.

Scale I ; 60,000.

\Ve St c? G'-ee"'^ ct-

95'20

0to5
Fathome.

Depths.

5 Fathoms
and upwards.

— 2,200 Yards.

across the isthmus is making rapid progress, and has already surmounted the
highest passes of the hiUs between the two oceans, so that the coffee grown on the
Pacific slope is now often forwarded by the overland route, saving several thousand
miles between Central America and Europe.

About nine miles to the south-west lies the old port of Tehuantepec, on a
badly sheltered bay, which would have to be protected by expensive hydraulic
works to make it suitable for its future trafiic ; meanwhile choice had to be made
of Salina Cruz Bay, where the shipping finds some shelter behind a pier at the
terminus of the interoceanic route.

East of Tehuantepec, on the strips of sand between the lagoons and the sea, are
scattered some 3,000 Huabi fishers, the last of a race whose ancestors contended

TEHUANTEPEC.

141

with the Mijes and Zapotecs for the supremacy in this region. In the north-east,
towards the centre of the isthmus, the two towns of Chimalapa, distinguished by
the names of their tutelar saints, are inhabited by the interesting Zoquo Indians,
who speak a language of unknown origin.

Fig. 60. — MiNATITLAN, NORTHERN PoET OF TeHUANTEPEO.
Scale 1 ; 200,000.

94°32

■West op Greenwich

94'25

Depths.

Oto5

Fathoms.

5 Fathoms
and upwards.

. 3 MUes.

Minatitlan, on the Coatzacoalcos, at the head of the navigation for ships drawing
ten or twelve feet, is the northern or Atlantic port of the isthmus. At present an
obscure trading place, it seems destined soon to become a flourishing seaport. It
is already connected with the mouth of the Coatzacoalcos by a railway, which is
continued southwards in the direction of Tehuantepec. Minatitlan, standing at

142 MEXICO, CENTEAL AMERICA, WEST INDIES.

the northern approach to the isthmus, has also been chosen as the junction of the
Kne which is intended to run from Vera Cruz towards Yucatan and Guatemala.

The neighbouring town of JaUlpan is dominated by a moimd which, according
to the local tradition, was raised by Cortes to the memory of Malintzin, or Dona
Marina, the Indian woman to whose sagacity and foresight he was probably indebted
for the conquest of Mexico. A French and Swiss colony founded in 1828 at Los
Almagri's survived a few years despite the climate and homesickness. The few
remaining settlers were at last dispersed amongst the Mexican towns. A Chinese
merchant of San Francisco, owner of extensive estates in the isthmus, has recently
introduced a large number of his fellow-countrymen into the same district where
they are employed on the rice and tea plantations.

III.— ^-East Mexico.
Chiapas, Tabasco, Campeaciiy, Yucatax.

The Chiapas highlands, distinctly separated bj' the depression of the Tehuan-
tepec isthmus from the Mexican tablelands, belong evidently to the same natural
region as the highlands and plateaux of Guatemala. Both are disposed in a con-
tinuous chain, with their steep escarpments turned towards the Pacific, while
the opposite slopes fall gently northwards towards the alluvial lands of Tabasco
and the plains of Yucatan. This peninsula, whose roots are, so to say, sunk in the
morasses and branching deltas of Tabasco, projects its huge quadrilateral mass
beyond the continental coastline in the direction of Cuba, and is continued by a
submerged plateau, which forms geographically a part of that island. Thus the
whole of East Mexico from Chiapas to Yucatan constitutes a natural region quite
distinct from the rest of the republic, from which it also differs in the origin and
history of its inhabitants, both in pre- and post-Columbian times. But in pro-
portion to its size it is greatly inferior in importance to "West Mexico. It is but
sparsely peopled, and its great natural resom'ces have scarcely begun to be utilised.
The four eastern states have an estimated population of not more than six or eight
to the square mile.

The natural parting-line of the two regions indicated by the Tehuantepec
peninsula was also formerly a political frontier. Under the Spanish rule Chiapas
was temporarily attached to the administrative division of Oaxaca in 1776, but for
nearly the whole of the three hundred }'ears that elapsed from Alvarado's con-
quering expedition of 1523 to the proclamation of independence in 1823, Chiapas
and the Pacific province of Soconusco were simple dependencies of the viceroj^alty
of Guatemala. When Guatemala entered the Mexican union, the two dependent
provinces also became an integral part of Iturbide's empire. But when Guatemala
again asserted its political autonomy, it was unable to recover more than a small
part of Soconusco, and the disputed frontier was not determined even in diplo-
matic documents till the year 1882.

Yucatan, also, which had constituted a special division in the viceroyalty of
New Spain, became a Mexican province after the proclamation of independence.

CHIAPAS. 143

!6ut in 1840 an insurrection was caused by the numerous abuses of the central
government. The ilexican garrisons were expelled and the officials deposed ; so
unanimous was the public sentiment of the Yucatan people that the change was
effected without bloodshed. Two years afterwards a Mexican force of 11,000
men besieged the town of Campeachy, but the besiegers themselres, reduced by
battle and fever to a fourth of their original strength, had to capitulate, and the
Mexican Government recognised the complete autonomy of Yucatan, which on its
part gave a nominal adhesion to the federal union. But after the national victory,
discord broke out between the two rival cities of Campeachy and Merida, both
of which aspired to the title of capital.

Then the Indians themselves, trained to warfare during these incessant struggles
in which they bad been compelled to take part, seized the opportunity to proclaim
their own independence against their white masters. Thus it happened that in
order to maintain their existence and pri^-ileges, the white populations had first to
settle their own differences, and then come to terms with the Mexican republic.
The social war lasted many years, and ended in the triumph of the Indians, who
succeeded in maintaining their independence in the southern part of the peninsula.
From this district the Mexicans are now excluded, and even European travellers
are not allowed to penetrate into the country except under the protection of a
native chief. In this direction Yucatan is thus separated from Guatemala by a
broad zone of tmreduced populations, just as it is separated from Mexico proper by
still uninhabited wastes.

Physical Features.

The mountain range which begins east of the Tehuantepec isthmus and is
continued through Guatemala and Central America is more entitled, by its
regularity and relative altitude, to the name of Sierra Madre, which is of such
frequent occurrence in Hispano- American lands. The first summits rise abruptly
above the forests of the isthmus, where the Atravesado ridge is already 5,000 feet
high, and is followed eastwards by several other summits exceeding 6,500 feet.
The formation is mainly porphyritic, with volcanic cones appearing at intervals,
amongst others the famous Soconusco (7,900 feet), the ancient Xoconochco, which
gives its name to the surrounding plains and to the whole southern slope of the
State of Chiapas. According to the natives, Soconusco still emits vapours, but
no mention is made of eruptions which would appear to have occurred in within
comparatively recent times. On the other hand tlie Indians greatly fear the
Tacana volcano, which has been chosen as the common frontier between Mexico
and Guatemala. Tacana is a regular cone which, according to Dollfus and De
Mont-Serrat, must certainly exceed 11,500 feet. It is nearly always wrapped in
smoke, and frequently in a state of eruption.

Towards the Pacific the Sierra Madre falls Very abruptly, the crest of the
range here running at a mean distance of 25 to 30 miles from the shore. On the
other hand the Atlantic slope is comparatively gentle, though the dechvity is
not regular like that of an iacliued plane. It is broken by deep valleys and

144

MEXICO, CENTEAL AMEEICA, WEST INDIES.

rugged cliains, vlaieli the running waters have carved iuto isolated masses or
irregular ridges, but which are mainly disposed parallel with the Sierra Madre.

The central part of Chiapas may be regarded as a hilly plateau, above which
rise sharp peaks such as Hueitepec, east of San Cristobal, which is said to be 7,450
feet high. Northwards the plateau has been cut by the streams into roimded
hills, which gradually merge in the alluvial plains. Towards the west the
plateau terminates above the plains of the isthmus in the superb Mount Gineta.

Fig-. 61. — Bauk of Yucatan.

Scale 1 : 6,500,000.

W<-St oF Gr

Depths.

0 to 100
Fathoma.

100 Fathoms
and upwards.

. 124 Miles.

This gently undulating country, covered with woods and diversified with running
waters, is one of the finest regions in Mexico.

In Yucatan proper there are no mountain ranges ; only in the southern
parts of the peninsula towards the Guatemalan and British Honduras frontiers
the surface is broken by a few low spurs and offshoots from the orographic
systems of those regions. The quadrangular mass limited southwards by a con-
ventional line drawn across the solitudes from the Terminos to the Chetumal
lagoon, is nothing but a huge limestone plateau rising above the surrounding
waters, and broken here and there by a few narrow ridges. The mean altitude
.scarcely exceeds 100 feet, while the highest rising grounds would appear to

rnYSICAL FEATURES OF YUCATAN. 14g

attain an elevation of not more than 500 feet above the average height of Yucatan.
These rising grounds constitute a sort of backbone disposed in the direction
from south-east to north-west towards the blunt angle of the peninsula, and
connected with a ridge that skirts the west coast of Campeachy. Wooded' hills

Fig. 62. — Alaceajj Reef.
Scale 1 : 230,000.

89'48'

West oF Grrenwich
Depths.

OtolO
Fathoms.

10 Fathoms
and upwards.

Upheaved
Eeefe.

— SJJIiles.

also run from south-west to north-east in the direction of Cape Catoche. This cal-
careous mass, forming an almost geometrical square, is continued by a submarine
bank far beyond the coastline, except on the east side, which is washed by deep
waters where the plummet plunges into depths of several hundred yards within
a few cable-lengths of the shore. The large island of Cozumel, with the banks

VOL. XVII.

146 MEXICO, CENTRAL AMERICA, AVEST INDIES.

forming its northern continuation, is separated from the mainland by a profoimd
channel where the waters of a coast current set steadily from south to north at a
velocity of two or tbree miles an hour. South of Cozumel the dangerous Chin-
chorro bank, as well as Arrowsmith on the north side, is also a coralline limestone
mass rising from the bed of a deep basin ; but the creeks, bays and other inlets
on the coast, especially those of Espiritu Santo and Asuncion, are almost completely
choked with sands and reefs.

The submarine pedestal of Yucatan begins at the north-east angle of the
peninsula, and extends over 125 miles northwards, thus embracing the island of
Mujeres and the cluster of islets in the vicinity of Cape Catoche. The escarp-
ment of the submarine bank, as indicated by the sounding line plunging suddenly
into depths of 100, 250, 1,000 and even 1,500 fathoms, thus describes a great
curve round Yucatan, roughly parallel with the coast. The still-submerged
portion is far more extensive than the upheaved peninsula itself, and may be
estimated at about 60,000 square miles. Should it ever rise above the surface of
the sea, it will present the aspect of an almost horizontal limestone mass, in its
general appearance exactly resembling the present peninsula. The numerous
cayos (cays or reefs) scattered over this submarine plateau, Alacran, Arenas, Los
Triangulos, Areas, are all coralline rocks similar to those fringing the coast of the
mainland, and all have their most active colonies of polypi on the outer face turned
towards the surf rolling in from the high seas. It was at the Alacran, or
"Scorpion," Reef that the Valdivia -was -wrecked in l^jll, the crew escaping in a
longboat to the Yucatan coast near Cape Catoche. Geronimo de Aguilar, one of the
two survivors, afterwards became Cortes' interpreter during the conquest of
Mexico.

The Arenas cays, near the south-west corner of the bank, consist of a few
islets frequented by myriads of aquatic birds and covered with guano. In 1854
the Mexicans first began to work these deposits ; they were followed by the
Americans, who claimed to be the first occupants, and on that ground pretended
that the cay belonged to the United States. This claim to a bank obviously lying
in Yucatan waters gave rise to long diplomatic discussions.

ElVERS.

The fluvial systems of East Mexico present in Chiapas and Yucatan a contrast
analogous to that of the relief of these regions. In Chiapas the running waters
flow in superabundance on the surface of the ground ; in Yucatan, water has to
be sought at great depths in the chasms of the rocks. East of the Rio Tonala,
which forms the boundary between the States of Vera Cruz and Tabasco, the
whole of the Atlantic slope as far as Yucatan belongs to the two united basins of
the Grijalva and Usumacinta, which rise in the same district on the Guatemalan
uplands and enter the Gulf of Mexico through the same channel. The Grijalva,
which flows under several different names at different parts of its circular course,
has its chief sources in the province of Huehuetenango, and the town of this name
is itself watered by one of its headstreams. After entering Mexican territory

THE USUMACINTA.

147

it is Joined in quick succession by most of its upper affluents, and here it takes the
name of Rio Grande or Rio de Chiapa, from the town standing on its banks. In
this part of its course it falls in a steep incline through a series of rapids and
cascades, and near Ghiapa suddenly plunges into a rocky chasm whence it escapes
at a much lower level farther down. Where it becomes navigable it describes
a great bend towards the west under the name of the Rio Mezcalapa, and on
reaching the low-lying plains only a few yards above sea-level, it assumes its

Kg. 63. — The UsTTMAcnrrA. — View taken at the Paso Yalchilau, on the GrtiATEiiALAN Fkon-tieb.

official title of Grijalva from the navigator by whom it was discovered in the year
1519. But the natives have preserved the old name of Tabasco, which Bernal
Diaz learnt from the Indians during the same expedition. On reaching the
alluvial plains the main stream begins to ramify in various directions, throwing
off some branches seawards, others to the TJsumacinta, which is much the larger
of the two rivers.

The TJsumacinta, less known than the Grijalva because traversing a very

L 2

148 MEXICO, CENTRAL AMERICA, WEST INDIES.

sparsely peopled region, also receives its first contributions from the " altos,"
or uplands, of Guatemala. According to Brasseur de Bourbourg, the Eio Blanco,
the main headstream, soon after the Rio Negro confluence trends at first eastwards
in the direction of Honduras Bay. But after changing its name ten times accord-
ing to the tribes settled on its banks, the Rio Chixoy or Lacandon, as it is here
usually called, turns north and north-west to its confluence beyond the uplands
with the Rio de la Pasion, a yellowish stream from the border ranges south of
British Honduras. It mostly flows sluggishly between its wooded banks, but
during the rainy season it floods its banks and at times rises 50 feet above low-
water level. Below the confluence the united stream takes the name of
Usumacinta, under which it is indicated in the diplomatic conventions, according
to which it has been chosen for a space of nearly 70 miles as the common frontier
of Mexico and Guatemala. Navigable by canoes throughout a great part of its
upper course, the Usumacinta pierces the last range of hills by a series of gorges
and rapids which obstruct all navigation by large craft. This section, where the
stream is contracted between vertical walls, takes the name of Boca del Cerro, or
"Mouth of the Moimtain." The people employed in felling mahogany and cedar
in this district mark the blocks and throw them into the current, by which they
are carried from rapid to rapid down to Tenosique. Here the stream resumes its
placid course, and is soon joined by the Rio San Pedro from Lake Peten in
Guatemala. The waters of this affluent are so thoroughly saturated with carbonate
of Ume that the snags arrested by the reefs are rapidly petrified and thus form
bars athwart the stream.

Beyond the confluence the Usumacinta follows a winding course through the
flat plains, till the first branches of the delta begin to ramify from the main stream
some 60 miles above the Gulf. Some of these branches trend north-eastwards
towards the Terminos lagoon, some flow straight to the sea, while others intermingle
their waters with branches from the Grijalva and from the secondary aSluents of
the twin river. Including the channels discharging into the Terminos lagoon,
the face of the delta has a development of about 125 miles, while all the ramifica-
tions occupy a space that may be estimated at 6,000 square miles. Scarcely any
other fluvial basin of like size has created such an extensive accumulation of sedi-
mentary matter in the waters of a marine Inlet.

The Barra de Tabasco, or principal channel, lies about the middle of the delta
region, and has a depth of from seven to ten feet according to the seasons. This
channel is deepest during the prevalence of the north winds, especially in the dry
season. During the floods, when the sea is covered with a j'ellowish water for a
distance of 35 miles from the coast, the bar is considerably raised by the sediment
brought down with the flood waters, so that at such times vessels drawing no more
than six or seven feet will not always venture to force the obstruction. The San
Pedro, another branch of the delta lying farther east, although shallower. Is more
constant. The deepest, but also one of the most shifting, passages Is that of Chil-
tepec in the east, where the soimding-line occasionally reveals a depth of thirteen
feet. Here is discharged the Rio Seco, or " Dry River," which Is supposed to have

EITEES OF TABASCO.

119

been the chief branch when these coasts were surveyed by Grijalva. In the inte-
rior of Tabasco the Grijalva and Usumacinta present in their numerous ramifvinw
branches a collective navigable water-system several hundred miles long even in
the dry season. In IS-iO, 1843, and 184-5, Texan, Yucatan, and American fiotUlas
of war easily penetrated into the Grijalva as far as the landing-stage of San Juan
Bautista, the capital, over 80 miles above the bar. The Usumaciuta also is navi-
gable during the floods for nearly 200 miles from its mouth, while light river-
craft ascend still farther above the rapids.

In a region of loose, soft soil changes are necessarily frequent, every inundation

Fig. 64.— ITOCTHS OF THB GbUALTA AJXD UsOLiCTKIi.
Scale 1 : 2,000,000.

Depths.

OtolO
Fathoms.

30 Slfles.

modifying the aspect of the land. "When the streams rise and overflow their banks
a great part of the State of Tabasco is laid under water. A space of about 2,000
square miles within the fijsed coastline disappears regularly during the winter
floods. A first rise caused by the summer rains takes place towards the end of
June, but it is usually of short duration, and is followed after an interval of three
months by the second rise, which usually begins in October and lasts till ilarch,
or for about half the year. During this period all land travelling becomes impos-
sible, and the inhabitants move about by water. But almost every channel and

150 MEXICO, CENTRAL AMERICA, ^VEST INDIES.

backwater offers them a passage through the forests. Thousands of such channels,
flowing now one way, now another, according to the currents of the affluent rivers,
cover the whole country with an endless network of navigable waterways masked
from view by the floating masses of nympheae and other aquatic plants.

The Terminos lagoon, which receives a portion of the Usumacinta waters through
the branch known as the Rio Palizada, and which is also fed by several other
streams, such as the Chumpan, Candelaria, and Mamantel, is an eastern continua-
tion of the low-lying plains of Tabasco. An upheaval of a few j'ards would suffice
to expose its sandbanks and change its navigable channels to stagnant waters.
The shore line, which will serve as a rampart for the future lands now being
gradually created by the fluvial deposits, already exists in the chain of the two long
islands, Aguada and Carmen, which close the entrance of the lagoon, leaving only
three passages for vessels of light draught. The Puerto Escondido, or "Hidden
Port," as the eastern channel is called, is only a few inches deep on the siU, and
this depth is seldom increased to three or four feet even by the tides, except when
accompanied by strong sea winds. The insular spits are merely sandy beaches
rising scarcely six or seven feet above sea-level, so that a few miles from land
nothing is seen except the continuous Hne of trees behind which stretch the still
waters of the inland lagoon. On different majjs the contour lines of this lagoon
are differently figured ; they differ, in fact, according to the seasons, the winds and
the quantity of sediment washed down by the affluents. On the north side the
sheet of water is continued jjarallel with the shore for a distance of some 60 miles.
This extension of the lagoon is merely a brackish channel gradually narrowing
towards its northern extremity, where it is nothing more than a feeble seaward
passage occupying the bed of an old inlet on the coast. The lagoon received the
name of Terminos in 1518 from the pilot Antonio de Alaminos, who supposed that
the " island " of Yucatan " terminated " at this point.

Farther north as far as the neighbourhood of Campeachy a few small coast
streams reach the sea. But beyond that place all the rainwater rapidly dis-
appears in the porous limestone soil ; not a single rivulet it visible, although there
exist in the Interior a few lacustrine basins, formed probably in the depressions
where more close-grained rocks approach the surface. Such is, towards the middle
of the peninsula, the brackish Lake Chichankanab, which stretches north and south
a distance of about fifteen miles. Other smaller sheets of water are scattered over
the north-eastern district and, according to native report, lagoons are also numerous
towards the neck of the peninsula west of British Honduras. But neither rivers,
springs, nor any surface waters are seen in the more densely-peopled central, north-
western, and northern districts, where nothing occurs except some morasses tem-
porarily flooded during the rainy season. The moisture, however, is collected in
the bowels of the earth above the impermeable rocks, and, thanks to the natural
galleries occurring here and there, the inhabitants are able to reach these under-
ground reservoirs, from which they draw their supplies.

In these deep cavities the water does not appear to flow as in subterranean rivers,
but rather spreads out in vast basins which communicate with one another through

152

MEXICO, CENTRAL AMERICA, WEST INDIES.

cenotes. Through the increasing gloom they follow the inclines excavated obHquely
in the rocky wall until they reach the vaults from which hang stalactites entwined
by long pendent alga). Here they fill their large pitchers with the dark fluid,
which has to be brought laboriously to the surface. The work entailed on the
women is perhaps heaviest at the cenote of Bolonchen, or the " Nine Springs," a
ruined village lying north-east of Campeachy on the road to Merida. Here the
deep cavity is reached through fissures in the rock and spiral stairs forming a
gallery altogether nearly 550 yards long and descending to an absolute depth of
about 410 feet below the surface of the ground.

The form of the coast-Hne along the northern seaboard of the peninsula may

Fig. 66.— The Rio of Yucatan.
Scale 1 : 4,000,000.

23-

90-

tWest op- Greenwich

Depths.

Oto60
Fathoms.

50 Fathoms
and upwards.

. 60 Miles.

be partly explained by the pressui-e of the inland waters spreading out beneath
the surface of the limestone plateau. A strip of land fringes the shore at the
north-east corner of Yucatan, but it has not the free development of the littoral
cordons skirting the Texas and Tamaulipas coasts on the opposite side of the
Gulf. It is disposed in a narrow band near the true shore-line, the outer and
inner beaches presenting the same curves with a surprising parallelism. It
becomes somewhat less regular towards the eastern extremity, where it is inter-
rupted at several points, and even forms the large island of Holbox facing the
Boca del Conil ("Rabbit's Mouth"), a considerable inlet, where extremely copious
springs bubble up amid the marine waters about a quarter of a mile from the
coast. The normal cordon, beginning west of this inlet, runs for a distance of

THE EIO OF YUCATAN. 153

170 miles, broken only by two narrow passages facing two streamlets — exceptional
phenomena on this part of the seaboard.

The narrow channel separating the mainland from its shifting outer beach
is known by various names, such as laguna, pantano, tierra fangosa, but is more
commonly called the rio, or river, or even the Rio Lagartos, " Crocodile River."
At first sight this term " river " would seem to be scarcely justified by a long
channel, which during the dry season is interrupted at several points. It is
crossed not only by fords, but even by tracks and now by roads and railway
embankments, and here and there by a tangle of bushy growths, leaving of the
rio nothing but narrow stretches of meres or lagoons. I^umerous springs reappear
in the open sea, but the channel itself receives most of the overflow from the
underground reservoirs, and the sediment brought down from these sources
suffices to maintain the rampart of sands and broken coral reefs by which the
marine waters are kept at some distance from the shore. At the north-west
corner of Yucatan the fringing sandy cordon cuj-ves round southwards with
almost geometrical regularity, terminating near a point of the coast known by
the name of Desconocida. This double shore-line coincides with that of the
marine current, which skirts the beach from east to west, and which here meets
a counter- current setting from the coasts of Tabasco and Campeachy under the
action of the northern winds. At the point where they clash the two marine
currents develop a strong whirlpool, by which the shore is eroded. A studj' of
the Yucatan seaboard gives the impression that the peninsula has been gradually
formed and continues to increase by these outer strips of sand, shells, and coral
reefs successively added to the mainland.

Climate, Flora, Fauna.

As In their relief and hydrographic systems, Chiapas and Yucatan diEEer also
in their climates, though to a less extent, for both regions are comprised within
the torrid zone with a temperature approaching the equatorial mean. The
Chiapas slope facing the Pacific lies entirely within the play of the alternating
monsoons. The north and north-east winds prevail in winter from November to
April, while the vendaval, or south wind, that is, the monsoon proper, dominates
in summer from May to October, when the sim is at the zenith. Nevertheless
the normal atmospheric currents are subject to disturbances, by which they are
frequently replaced by winds blowing from different points of the compass.
Both their direction and force are, in fact, endlessly modified by the inequalities
of relief, the varying trend and outlines of the rising grounds. As a rule, dry
weather and clear skies prevail in winter, while the summer monsoon is accom-
panied by rains, thunderstorms, and tornadoes.

Yucatan is mainly exposed to the action of the north-east trade ^ond, but
the almost exclusively limestone formation destitute of surface waters becomes
during the hot season a focus of attraction for all the surrounding sea breezes.
Stimulated by the intense solar heat during the day, these winds follow the course

154 MEXICO, CENTRAL AMERICA, WEST INDIES.

of the sun round the horizon. The regular trades are also frequently interrupted
by the fierce gales coming from the north, that is, from the Texan and Mississippi
plains. The driest mouths are March, April and May, when showers are extremely
rare. But, as in Chiapas, this dry season is immediately followed by torrential
downpours and thunderstorms, lasting till November, when the almost rainless
regular winds again set in. The year might thus be divided into three periods,
a dry, a wet, and a windy season.

For Europeans the Yucatan climate is one of the most dangerous in the Gulf.
Yellow fever often sweeps away numerous victims; but still more dreaded is
consumption, which is both endemic and hereditary, alike fatal to those con-
stitutionally predisposed and to persons enjoying good health and strength.
Mexican soldiers, removed as a punishment to the peninsula, consider themselves
foredoomed to death. In Tabasco, a watery region where the people live as much
afloat as on dry land, the prevailing epidemic is marsh fever. In this moist land
consumption, the scourge of the dry Yucatan plateau, is almost unknown.

Both the flora and the fauna of Chiapas and Yucatan belong to the same zone
as those of south Mexico, with the addition of various forms characteristic of
Central America. This southern region, intermediate between Mexico proper
and the isthmuses, nowhere presents any desert wastes, and the vegetation is
extremely luxuriant in many places, even on the slopes of the Soconusco
Mountains and the neighbouring coastlands, where the rainfall is far from
copious. Tree ferns, the cacao and other plants requiring much moisture and
a constantly humid atmosphere, grow vigorously, while on the lowlands rice
thrives without ii-rigation. The scanty rainfall is here supplemented by the
moisture percolating below the surface from the rising grounds. Even the arid
limestone plains of Yucatan are clothed with a stunted vegetation ; very different,
however, from the magnificent forest growths festooned with lianas, which cover
the fertile districts of Chiapas and Tabasco. Little is seen except thorny scrub
and cactus or agave thickets, without any of the large species which, on the
Anahuac uplands, grow to a height of over 30 feet. Here the rain-water dis-
appears too rapidly in the porous limestone to nourish a rich vegetation.

Amongst the plants pecidiar to Chiapas and Yucatan, and not found in Mexico
proper, there are many trees and dyewoods, such as mahogany and campeachy, or
logwood {hiematoxylon campechianum) . The former is even more common in
various parts of Central America than in Tabasco, while the latter is exclusively
confined to the region from which it takes its ordinary name. In favourable
localities this hard-grained plant sometimes attains a height of from 40 to 45 feet.

Amongst the more remarkable members of the Chiapas faima is the " snuff-
box " tortoise, which has its lower shell furnished at both ends with two appen-
dices enabling it to shut itself completely up and defy all enemies.

Inhabitants.
Like that of Anahuac, the population of East Mexico is very mixed, although
the indigenous element is here relatively greater. The Nahuas proper are repre-

TIIE MAYAS. 155

sented in Soconusco along the historic route by which the Aztecs in comparatively
recent times migrated from Anahuac to Nicaragua. The warlike Chiapauec nation
still survives in the north-west part of the state which from them takes the name
of Chiapas. The more numerous but less cultured Tzendals, Tzotzils, and Quelens
("Bats") occupy the forest regions comprised between the Tehuantepec depression
and the Gruatemalan frontier. Lastly, the numerous nomad or settled groups
belong to the same family as those of west Guatemala — Lacandons and Chontals
in the north, Chols and Chafiabals in the centre, Mames in the south. They all
appear to be connected by language, primitive usages, and traditions with the
cultured Mayas of Yucatan, the most advanced representatives of this ethnical
dinsion. The Mayas held out more valiantly against the Spaniards than the
Aztecs ; they would also appear to have reached a higher degree of civilisation
than the Nahuas in pre-Columbian times. Although never actually visited by
Columbus, he had, nevertheless, heard of their fame. The work of extermination,
as described by Las Casas and Diego de Landa, resulted in the almost total dis-
appearance of the Maya race ; which, however, has gradually revived and even
preserved the national speech. Those acquainted with Spanish are said to abstain
from speaking it, and Maya is still generally current in all the rural districts
except in the neighbourhood of Campeachy. In the inland provinces the
descendants of the Spaniards have to a large extent forgotten their mother tongue,
and in Yucatan the conquerors may be said to have themselves been conquered.
Even in Merida everybody is obliged to learn Maya in order to hold inter-
course with the maceguales {mazehuati), as the natives are called.

The Spaniards and Mestizoes are represented chiefly in the towns and southern
parts of Chiapas which are traversed by the more-frequented highways between
Mexico and Guatemala. The half-caste Maya-Spanish race is one of the finest
in America, and the women especially are remarkable for their personal charms.
It is noteworthy that the Indian type of featui'es is perpetuated from generation
to generation. However white the complexion may become, the Yucatec Mestizo
always preserves certain Maya traits by which he may be at once recognised.

The range of the Maya language, which embraces the Huaxtec territory in the
State of Vera Cruz, extends far beyond the frontiers of Yucatan, for it comprises
nearly the whole of Tabasco, a part of Chiapas, and about half of the Guatemalan
repubKc. According to their own traditions the Mayas reached the peninsula
from opposite directions, from east and west, from the sea and the mainland. A
god had guided them across the ocean, and it is certain that they were acquainted
with navigation. They had even decked vessels, which probably hoisted sails, and
voluntary or involuntary voyages frequently took place between Yucatan and the
island of Cuba. Once established in the peninsula the Mayas long remained its
peaceful rulers. In a region lying apart from the regular highway of migrations
along the Pacific coast they had nothing to fear from invading hosts. At the time
of its greatest expansion the Aztec empire was conterminous with Mayaland only
at its south-east extremity, and the Nahuas had scarcely any knowledge of Yucatan,
where the more cultured part of the nation was settled.

156 MEXICO, CENTRAL AMERICA, "WEST INDIES.

The Mayas, properly so called, are of mean stature with robust bony frames,
round head, delicate hands and feet, and great staying power. The branch of the
Maya group dwelling in the Tabasco forests, and known as Ghontals, or " Savages,"
a name implying that they had remained aliens to the civilisation of their Yucatec
kindred, are a remarkably frugal people. A few roots or bananas with a little
maize suffice to maintain them for days together under the hardest work as porters
or boatmen. Their costume is extremely simple, being limited to drawers and a
shirt worn as a blouse. In Yucatan the dress of the men is the same as that of
the Spaniards ; but the Maya women, more faithful to the national usages, have
preserved the pre-Columbian fashions. The Mayas are a gentle, inoffensive
people, and a market-day in a Yucatan town presents an almost unique spectacle
in the quiet demeanour, courtesy, and mutual goodwill of buj'ers and sellers.

Like all other cultured Indians, the Mayas call themselves Catholics, though
mingling with their private worship certain rites which they have assuredly not
learnt from the Spaniards. Thus, after burials, they mark with chalk the path
leading from the grave to the house, so that when the time comes to enter the
body of some new-born babe, the deceased may not mistake the way to his former
dwelling. From this it is evident that, despite the teaching of the Church, the
doctrine of metempsychosis still survives amongst them. They have also preserved
the old lore regarding the healing art and the stars. Many astrologers still
observe the conjunctions of the constellations, predicting from them the public and
private events of life, the results of the harvests, and similar forecastings. Every
village has its "cunning man," who reads the future in a quartz crystal globe.
Before the disastrous war of 1847, nearly every village had also its Chilan-
Balam Booh, that is, the " Interpreter of Oracles," and of this work at least
sixteen copies are still known to exist. Amongst the natives are certain priests,
either very complacent or else very ignorant of the orthodox rites, for they
celebrate with the people the misa milpera, or " field Mass," at which a cock is
sacrificed, the four cardinal points being first sprinkled with some fermented
liquor, with invocations both to the Three Persons of the Holy Trinity and to the
Pah ah tun, that is, the four patrons of the rain and the crops. These tutelar
deities have, however, taken Christian names, the Red, or God of the East, having
become St. Dominic ; the White, or God of the North, St. Gabriel ; the Black,
or God of the "West, St. James ; and the " Yellow Goddess " of the South, Mary
Magdalene.

The Maya language, at once guttural and sonorous, and pleasant, especially in
the mouth of the women, appears to be the purest member of the linguistic family
whose various other branches — Tzendal, Lacandon, Quiche (Kachiquel) — are
spoken between the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific seaboard. These varioiis
dialects, however, differ from each other merely in the admixture of foreign words
and a certain variation in the pronunciation and in the final syllables. Pure Maya
is at present spoken only in the north-east part of the country round about
Valladolid and Tizimin.

A striking proof of the persistence of the Maya genius is afforded by the

THE MAYAS.

157

geograpbical nomenclature of Yucatan, nearly all tlie native names having been
preserved despite Spanish influences. The term Yucatan, which has prevailed

Fig. 67. — Maya Tovths.

over the Spanish Isla de Santa Maria de hs Eemedios, is itself of Maya origin,
though its exact meaning is somewhat doubtful. It probably arose from a mis-
understanding on the part of the Spanish navigators when enquiring after the

138 MEXICO, CENTEAL AMERICA, -WEST INDIES.

name of the peninsula. According to Bishop Landa, apostle of the Mayas, the
usual description was TJlumit Cuz el Etel Get, that is, " Turkey and Deer Land."
Mayapan, the name of the ancient capital, was also frequently applied to the
whole peninsula, and Maya, the name of the people, would appear to have
previously been given to the country. This word, Ma-ay-ha, is said appropriately
enough to mean " Waterless Land."

As amongst the Aztecs, the fanatical conquistadores endeavoured to efface
everything recalling the national religion. Manuscripts of priceless value were
thrown to the flames, the idols and sculptures ruthlessly destroyed. Nevertheless,
a few traditions have survived of pre-Columbian times, and by their aid the
learned have endeavoured to reconstitute the political history of the Maya nation
for the two or three hundred years preceding the conquest. The first legendary
personages In Yucatan history, at once gods, heroes, and founders of empires, are
Votan and Zamna, who were partly confused together in the popular imagination,
and to whom were attributed all the national institutions, as well as all inventions
made since the beginning of the world. After them came Cukulcan, another
mythical ruler, identified by archaeologists with the Mexican Quetzalcoatl and
with the Guatemalan Gucumatz, the " Feathered Serpent," whose history coincides,
in fact, with that of this Aztec and Quiche domi-god. Hence there can scarcely
be any doubt that the epoch personified by the Maya hero represents an interval
during which the influence of the Northern Nahuas was dominant in the peninsula.
Then followed other conquerors, apparently from the south, though their very
name, Tutul Xiu, would seem to imply that they also were Nahuas. According
to the national legend, they reigned as many as eleven centuries over Mayaland,
and it was probably under their rule that were erected the remarkable monuments
of Yucatan. Despite incessant wars and local revolutions involving the destruc-
tion of many cities, this dynasty still held sway in a part of the territory at the
time of the Spanish invasion.

The first Spanish navigators had already been struck by the numerous monu-
ments of Maya architecture, which were afterwards mentioned by all writers
speaking of this region. But during the present century no attempt was made
till after 1830 to systematically examine and describe these astonishing ruins.
Uxmal was first visited and described by Zavala in 1835, and its remains were
soon after studied and illustrated by Frederick von Waldeck. But public interest
was first awakened by the traveller, Stephens, and the painter, Catherwood, who
too'ether twice explored the land, and whose writings* may be regarded as the
starting-point for the archaeological study of Yucatan.

Since that time the ruined cities have been frequently visited, amongst others,
by ]NL Charnay, whose work acquired exceptional value from the magnificent
photographs, by which the accuracy of previous drawings could be judged. Over
sixty groups of extensive ruins are alreadj' known ; but it is impossible to say
how many more may still exist in the unexplored territory of the independent

* Stephens, Incidents of Travel i» Yucatan ; Catherwood, Views of Ancient Monuments iti Central
America.

THE MOXU^IEXTS OF YUCATAN.

159

Mavas. Certain arch^ologists, proud of beiug amongst the first to draw attention
to the splendid structures of Chiapas and Yucatan, did not fail to extol their
magnificence, and even to compare them with the temples of Egypt and Greece.
Such praise was certainly not justified, for the Maj'a buildings lack elegance
of proportion, sobriety of ornamentation, nobility and perfection in their sculp-
tures. Nevertheless, their vast size, massive character, and lavish wealth of
carvings attest a civilisation far superior to that of many civilised peoples in the
Old World.

Most of the Yucatan structures stand either on natural eminences or on
artificial terraces. They are usually found in the ■vicinity of cenotes, or even
built over these underground reservoirs, which were at all times places held in

Fig. 68. — Chief Rxjins of TrcATi^-.

ScaJe 1 : 4,200,000.

■ 60 Sliles.

veneration by the surrounding populations. The monuments usually face the
cardinal points, but not with astronomic accuracy, and the parts are rarely disposed
in correct order, having apparentl}' been erected without any general plan. Some
archaeologists have assigned a vast antiquity to these remains, attributing them to
peoples who had already disappeared at the time of the conquest. But this
opinion is no longer held, and is in fact refuted by tradition and internal evidence.
According to the testimony both of the Spanish conquerors and of the national
chronicles, the Mayas continued to use the temples for religious purposes down to
the second half of the sixteenth centuiy. Nearly all the Yucatan buildings affect
the pyramidal form, temples and palaces alike rising from a broad base through
a series of receding steps to the crowning structure on the summit. Such
structures were absent from some of the pyramids, which in that case were

160 MEXICO, CENTRAL AMERICA, WEST INDIES.

truncated, the free space on the upper terrace forming an altar open to the
heavens, where the sacrificing priests celebrated their rites in the presence of the
assembled multitudes. None of these massive piles were carried to any great
elevations — so as, for instance, to overtop the large forest trees. The highest
pyramids fell short of 100 feet; but in some instances the base covered a vast
space, that of Zayi, near Uxmal, presenting a periphery of over 1,500 feet.

According to VioUet le Due, one of the most remarkable architectural triumphs
of the Maya builders was the employment of mortar to cement the layers of
stone in a solid rock, modelling and carving the cement itself with figures and
ornamental designs. Mortar, cement, plaster, stucco, all was made of sand and
lime mixed in different proportions, but always hard as stone. Made with nearly
pure hydraulic lime, it is so thoroughly adhesive both in the mass and when
applied as a surface coating, that it can scarcely be chipped off by the hammer.

In the Yucatan buildings and round about very little pottery and instruments
have been found, although such objects are usually met in abundance in historic
and prehistoric stations. Idols also have rarely been brought to light, doubtless
because they were mostly hidden away by the natives after the arrival of the
Spaniards, who destroyed all images they could lay their hands upon. But the
walls are sometimes found completely covered with sculptures and figures in bas-
relief. The type of such figures is the same as that of the present natives,
especially the eastern Lacandons, except that it is highly exaggerated, especially
in the temples of Palenque. Receding forehead and arched nose were regarded
as marks of nobility, and siich features were naturally given to human or divine
images held up to the veneration of the people. There is in any case reason to
believe that in those times, as well as at present, the heads of the children
were artificially deformed by the Maya women. Symbolic animals, especially the
serpent, embellish the walls, on which are also seen ornaments in the form of
elephants' trunks. From this it has been hastily concluded that the Maya sculptors
were acquainted with that animal, and consequently that they had received their
first lessons from masters of Asiatic origin. Some of the bas-reliefs represent
social scenes ; but nowhere have been discovered warlike subjects, such as those
covering the walls of the Assyrian palaces and Egj-ptian temples. Hence the
Maya would appear to have been in the enjoyment of profound peace when the
monuments of their great artistic epoch were erected. The almost total absence
of fortifications round their cities and buildings also attests the tranquil condition
of the land, and the peaceful character of its inhabitants. At present all these
grey carvings intermingled on the crumbling waUs, such as those of Uxmal some
350 feet long, seem to be merged in a chaos of indistinct forms. But they were
formerly relieved by fresh colours — yellow, red, white, and black — sharply contrast-
ing one with the other, and presenting a mj'stic or historic subject understood by all.

The " calculiform " hierogl}'phics, so named from their contours, usually
rounded like those of cakuli or pebbles, are all arranged in long lines like the
written characters of a book, and undoubtedly served as the explauatoiy text of
the associated carvings. These writings still remain undeciphered, but may

TOPOGEAPHT OF CHIAPAS. 161

possibly one day reveal the history of the people by whom the buildings were
erected. At least they may explain the purposes of edifices which are at present
designated under fantastic Spanish names. A clue may also thus be obtained to
determine their date, at present a subject of interminable discussion amongst
archaeologists. The same characters were also reproduced on textUes and on bark,
and such manuscripts could be either rolled up or bound together in thin volumes.
But hieroglyphic documents in the Maya language are extremely rare. Four
only are preserved in European collections ; nor has their interpretation been yet
facilitated by the discoverj^ of anj' bilingual inscription, such as the Rosetta stone
and the Bisutun cuneiform tables, which served to unravel the mystery of the
Egyptian hieroglj'phics and the Persian and Mesopotamian cuneiform writings. Yet
the Spanish priests were acquainted with a Maya alphabet, and the manuscript
possessed by one of these missionaries has even been recovered.* The only infor-
mation still extant on the nature of the Yucatan writing system is contained in
this work, which belonged to the fanatical bishop, Diego de Landa, who threw to
the flames hundreds of manuscripts found in the temples. Landa's book explains
only some sixty of several thousand signs, and as each sign may be replaced by
others having the same meaning though differently formed, it is obvious that no
translation is at present possible.

Topography.

Being separated fi-om the interior of Chiapas by a coast range running close to
the shore, and crossed neither by great trade routes nor by railways, the groups of
habitations situated on the Pacific seaboard naturally possess but slight commer-
cial importance ; nor are there any good harbours on this coast to attract shipping.
Nevertheless such is the fertility of the soil and the excellence of its produce that
Soconusco has already acquired a high reputation in the foreign markets.

Here the most frequented seaports are Tonala and San Benito, ov Soconusco, \>o\h
accessible to vessels of light draught through dangerous passages which communi-
cate with long coast lagoons. Although the nearest port to the capital of Chiapas,
Tonala has a yearly trade of less than £40,000 ; in the neighbourhood are two hills
scarcely surpassed in the whole world for their wealth of iron ores. San Benito,
which exports the cacao of Soconusco, has nearly double the trade of Tonala, and
it cannot fail to acquire a rapid development when the railway is opened to
Tapachula, on the slopes of the Soconusco Mountains near the Guatemala frontier.
Union Juarez, founded a few years ago close to the border at an altitude of 4,300
feet, is the centre of the Chiapas coffee plantations ; Chiapa de las Indies, the ancient
capital of the Chiapauec nation, which has given its name to the whole province,
lies on the Atlantic slope in the valley of the Grijalva. Above the present town
and its numerous ruins stands a bluff crowned with the remains of the Chiapa Nan-
duime fortress, behind whose ramparts the Chiapanec warriors defied the attacks
of the Aztec forces. Here also they long held out against the Spaniards and,

* Daniel G. Brinton, The Books of OiiUm-Balam.
VOL. xvn. M

162 MEXICO, CEXTEAL AMERICA, WEST INDIES.

when reduced to the last extremity, the survivors, to the number of 2,000, threw
themselves with their wives and children over the precipice.

A few miles west of Chiapa, in a lateral valley of the Grijalva, lies the little
town of Ta.ctla, which was for a few years made the capital of the state to punish
the rebellious inhabitants of San Cristobal Las Casus, the present capital. This place
stands on the site of the old Indian city of Ghoucl or Hite-Zucaflan. It has received
its present designation of Las Casas in honour of the valiant defender of the Indians,
Bartholomew de Las Casas, bishop of Chiapas. Beyond the Anahuac plateau San
Cristobal is the highest city in Mexico, though the estimates of its altitude vary
from 6,240 to 7,000 feet.

San Juan Bautista, formerly Villa Uermosa, capital of Tabasco, is a small
place occupying an opening in the extensive forest which covers the whole of the
delta region. It is connected by a short railway with the Grijalva, and thus com-
mands the magnificent system of navigable waterways ramifying over a district
manv hundred square miles in extent, reaching from the delta to the neck of the
Yucatan peninsula. Though at present destitute even of carriage roads, the capital
is destined in the near future to become a converging-point for the railways running
north, east and south towards Mexico, Yucatan and Guatemala. Its outlet on the
Atlantic is the port of Frontcra {Guadalupe), on the right bank of the Grijalva.

The Usumacinta, which joins the Grijalva above Frontera, has no towns in
the part of its vast basin comprised within the Mexican States of Chiapas, Tabasco
and Campeachy. Palenque, or the "Palisade," the best-known place in this
region, is a mere village lying at an altitude of about 350 feet on one of the
last slopes of the plateau limited by the alluvial plains of the Usumacinta.
Palenque, founded during the second half of the sixteenth century under the
patronage of Santo Domingo, soon acquired great importance as a centre of the
transit trade and converging-point of the numerous tracks around the low-lying
plains with their ramifying system of countless canals. Despite its isolated
position in the midst of forests, it also became during the last century the chief
station for caravans journeying between Guatemala and Campeachy. But the
shifting of the trade routes has again consigned it to solitude.

About ten miles south-west of Palenque lie the imposing ruins of a forest-
grown city whose very name has perished, though supposed to have been either
Nachan or Colhuacan, the " Serpent City." The inhabitants of Palenque were
unaware of its existence till the middle of the last century, when the ruins were
accidentally discovered in 1746. Their systematic exploration began in 1773,
and since that time they have been frequently visited, described, and reproduced
in drawings and photographs. But great ravages have been made by the damp
climate, the rank vegetation, the fires kindled in the midst of the ruins to clear
the ground for tillage, the eagerness of explorers to enrich public museums or
their private collections, by ignorant travellers carrying off souvenirs of their
visit, and even by the wanton love of destruction. The largest structure, known
as the palacio, appears to have really been a "palace" of some kind, or the
residence of a religious community, but certainly not a temple, for it is divided into

PALENQUE— TULHA.

1G3

a large number of chambers, passages, and apartments of all kinds. Like all the
other monuments, it stands on a raised platform, which takes the usual shape of
a truncated pyramid. One of the facades shows a row of pillars supporting a
projecting architrave of a highly original design. The walls of this edifice are
covered with sculptures, while in. another was found the famous "Greek cross,"
sj'mbol of the " tree of life," or of " fecundity," which has given rise to so much
discussion amongst archaeologists. South-west of Palenque, about midway on the
road to San Cristobal, capital of Chiapas, in an upland valley watered by a western
affluent of the Usumacinta, are grouped the houses of Ococingo, whose name has
also been assigned to an ancient city lying five miles farther east. By the Indians

Fig. 69. — Etjins c> the Lacandon and Tzexbal Couxtetes.

Scale I ; 2,S0U,000.

X ■v.^iBartdteme '.• .. .' ,■ .^ •. -s-f

Atne CJ0

WesT oF C-

'^^^^^%^^i^ymA-:4^M%x^i

. GO Miles.

this place is called Tonihi, that is, "Stone Houses," and the ruins are said, on
jDure conjecture, to be those of Tulha, ancient capital of the southern Toltecs.
Amongst them was discovered a plaster carving, whose perfectly Egyptian
expression greatly surprised Stephens, Catherwood, and Brasseur de Bourbourg.
It takes the form of a medallion with large wings spread out above the porch of
a palace. In the whole district between Ococingo and Palenque the hills av.d
mountains are crowned with' sepulchral mounds, and according to the inhabitants
of the countr)^ other magnificent structures are hidden awaj' amongst the hills
of Tumhala, and farther south in the direction of San Cristobal and Comitan.

One of these unknown cities in the Lacaudon territory was lately discovered
on the left bank of the Usumacinta, in a disti-ict which must have been frequently

164 MEXICO, CENTRAL AMERICA, "VVEST INDIES.

visited by the Guatemalan and Campeachy traders. But all reference to these
ruins of Menche were of the vaguest character till the year 1868, when they
were first distinctly mentioned by Suarez. Since then \he\ have been visited by
Rockstroh in 1881, by Maudslay and Chai'nay in 1882, and the last-mentioned
traveller gave them the name of Lorillard City, in honour of the American citizen
who defrayed the expenses of his expedition. The ruined city stands on a head-
land encircled by the river below its confluence with the Ococingo, and above
the series of rapids extending all the way to Tenosiqtte. Some heaps of stones
near the shore look like the butment of a broken bridge, but they are merely the
remains of a sustaining wall at the base of the amphitheatre of houses and temples.
To their very summit the escarpments are cut into flights of steps, or else faced
with masonry, with large trees now growing through the cracks and fissures ; all
the building materials exactly resemble those of Palenque. The largest temple,
the facade of which is partly overgrown with interlaced branches and foliage, is
disposed in three receding storeys, where traces are still preserved of the original
stucco coating and paintings ; the topmost storey is arranged in little regular
square niches, each of which was decorated with sculptures. One of the lintels
represents two figures supporting " Latin crosses," and in the court is seen an
idol sitting cross-legged, the hands resting on the knees, and the face crowned
with an enormous headdress, which takes the form of a diadem of precious stones
surmounted by huge feathers. This serene and dignified image, absolutely unique
in the New World, recalls the buddhas of the extreme East. The bowls of coarse
clay found close by contained a resinous substance, probably the incense which
the Lacandons even recently still burnt in honour of the deity.

The little town of Tenosiqite below the rapids, and at the entrance of the plains
the village of Balancan, are the chief groups of habitations on the lower Usu-
macinta. Carmen, the onlj' town in this part of the delta, lies on a strait through
which the Terminos lagoon conimimicates with the sea.

The picturesque city of Campeachy (Gampeche), with its irregular streets and
houses shaded by cocoauut groves, is surrounded by ramparts and commanded by
forts crowning the encircling hills. Campeachy is still one of the most beautiful
cities in Mexico, but it has lost the relative importance it enjoyed duiing the
days of commercial monopolies. During the Spanish rule it was one of the three
privileged places on the east coast north of the isthmus of Darien — Vera Cruz and
San Juan de Nicaragua being the other two — which were open to the trade with
Spain, and, thanks to this advantage, it had developed extensive relations with
the interior. At that time Campeachy was not only the emporium for the whole
of Yucatan, but also served as the outlet for the produce of Tabasco, Chiapas, and
aven Guatemala. Now, however, these regions have their own direct trade routes,
and even Yucatan itself finds Carmen a more convenient outlet for Campeachy
wood and other exports. If Campeachy possessed a real harbour, it would have
at least attracted to itself a great part of the exchanges of the peninsula, but the
roadstead with its shelving bed is exposed to the full fury of the dreaded nortes ;
the pier projecting seawards does not reach suificient depths to be accessible at

TOPOGRAPHY OF YUCATAN.

165

all times, so that vessels drawing thirteen or f oui'teen feet have to anchor at a
distance of five miles from the port. Its trade is consequently limited to cocoa-
nuts, some timber, sugar, hides, and salt.

The scarcity of towns, villages, or even hamlets in the neighbourhood of the
sea, as shown by the blank spaces on the map of Yucatan, is apt to cause surprise
The sparse popidation on the coastlands is partly explained by the want of shelter
on the seaboard, and the presence of insalubrious coast lagoons or marshes, but
it is also due to the filibustering expeditions to which the people were exposed

Fig. 70. — Meeid.4. axd Noeth-West Yucatan.
Scale I ; 1,000,000.

VVest or breenwic'n

a9'40'

Depths.

0 to5
Fathoms.

5 Fathoms
and upwaids.

. 24 JCles.

during the last two centuries. The English corsairs, landing suddenly in some
creek, often penetrated far into the interior, killing the men, carrying off the
children, sacking and burning towns and villages. Although these raids have
long ceased, no special industries have been developed, while the natural resources
of the coastlands have not been sufiicient to attract immigrants from the interior.
Hence ia this region the population is still mostly concentrated about Merida,
where it was also most dense at the time of the conquest. Merida, capital of the
State of Yucatan, and formerly of the whole peninsula, stands on the site of
the ancient 2fd, or Ti-lioo, that is, "City" in a pre-eminent sense. Most of its

166 MEXICO, CENTRAL AMERICA, WEST INDIES.

monuments were pyramidal structures with their upper terrace crowned by
temples or palaces. All have been destroyed, and the materials used in the
modern buildings, which are consequently here and there embellished with
ancient carvings embedded in the walls. In the outskirts alone are found the
remains of pyramids, one of which, till recently occupied by a community of
Franciscan friars, covers, with its cloisters and gardens, a surface of about five
acres ; its picturesque ruins present .somewhat the aspect of a citadel. According
to ancient Maya usage, some of the streets traversing the city are still indicated
at either end by the sculptured image of the symbolic animals, such as the flamingo
or hawk, to which the thoroughfare was dedicated. The white terraced houses
with their Moorish courts resemble those of Andalusia, but those of the suburbs,
surrounded by groves and gardens, are still constructed in the Maya style. They
are little houses of stone, or. else of plaited " bamboo, raised a couple of feet above
the street level, with a porch in front which is enclosed by walls on both sides
and provided with a continuous bench all round. In the central part of the city
is still seen the emblazoned palace built for himself by Montejo, founder of the
new town, in 1542.

Thanks to its trade in henequeu, or agave fibre, of which from 40,000 to
60,000 tons are annually exported, Merida has become the converging-point of
several lines which, when completed, will cover the whole peninsula with a net-
work of railways. For the present, however, the capital is connected only by a
road with its ancient port, the little town of Sisa!, at the north-west corner of
Yucatan. From this seaport the henequen takes its English name of Sisal hemp,
by which it is known in the trade. The price of this valuable fibre has increased
sixfold since the middle of the present century. The roadstead of Sisal, being
exposed to the dangerous north winds, was abandoned in 1871, when a new
" marina " was founded on the coast due north of Merida, with which it is con-
nected by a railway 22 miles long. The line is carried over the coast lagoon by
a strong embankment. The new town, which replaces the old Indian village of
Tuxuhi, has already justified its name of Procjirso, although the only advantage it
enjoys over Sisal is its relative proximity to the capital. To shipping it is equally
inaccessible, large vessels having to anchor in an open roadstead from three to six
miles from the port. So dangerous is this roadstead that steamers and sailing
vessels are always ready to weigh anchor and escape to the high sea ; towards noon
every day communication with the shore becomes almost impossible, owing to the
violence of the surf under the action of the fierce northern gales.

Over 50 miles east of Merida, following the windings of the route, and on the
verge of the more thickly-peopled districts, stands the ancient city of Izamal,
so named from Itzmatul (Itzenmatul), "God of the Dew." But this old
capital was already in ruins at the time of the conquest, and was regarded only
as a holy city to which pilgrims flocked from all parts of the four highways
radiating in the direction of the cardinal points. Twelve pyramidal or conic
mounds, each crowned with a temple or palace, rose at that time above the city,
but are now merely shapeless piles of refuse visible above the dense foliage of

168 MEXICO, CENTEAL AMERICA, WEST INDIES.

Sacbe, Kabah, Sanacte, Labna and Zai/i. The ruins of the latter place are amongst
the finest in Yucatan ; it is looked on as a haunted city of the dead by the natives,
who rarely venture to approach it, declaring that at times a mysterious music
is heard vibrating among the stones. The district stretching south of the limestone
hills is strewn with ruins as far as the town of Iturbide, recently founded in the
borderland between civilised Yucatan and the territory held by the independent
wild tribes.

In the eastern part of Yucatan the Spanish name of Valladolid has been
given to the chief town, the ancient Zaci, or " White Clay." Zaci, which is not
yet connected with Merida by rail, lies in the centre of a tolerably fertile district,
which is so salubrious that consumptive persons resort to it from Campeachy
and Merida. But, like so many other places in Yucatan, it is more interesting
for the surrounding mines than for its modern structures, especially since the
Maya revolt, when it was nearly depopulated and its cotton mills destroyed.
Chichen-Itza, former residence of the Itza dynasty, lies twenty miles west of
Valladolid ; it is now a mere village strewn with ruins which, during the wars
of the conquest, were successively occupied by the Indians and Spaniards as strong-
holds. The pyramid of Chichen-Itza, which is still in a good state of preservation,
is approached by a monumental flight of steps lined with trees and terminating
at the base in two colossal snakes with yawning jaws.

In a building which he called the " gymnasium," Stephens discovered some
paintings which he pronounced to be the most precious gems of native art to be
found anywhere on the American continent. Unfortunatelj% the colours have
been almost completely effaced by the weather and visitors. One of the subjects
represented a large vessel with raised pi-ow and poop, tiller and rudder. At
Chichen-Itza, Dr. Le Plongeon also discovered under a heap of rubbish 26 feet
thick the finest statue of Nahua art now preserved in the Museimi of Mexico. It
is the elEgy of Chac-Mool, the " Tiger King," reclining on his back and looking
towards the right ; the features are quite regular and the head is adorned with
fillets in the Egyptian fashion. The simple majesty of this statue stands in
striking contrast to the figures, overcharged with barbaric ornaments, which are
met in so many other temples of Mexico, Tabasco, and Chiapas. The reservoir
from which Chichen-Itza takes its name, meaning " Mouth of the Springs," is a
broad gloomy well about 500 feet in circuit, with circular ledges carried round the
walls by means of projecting layers of masonry. In its deep green water, 65 feet
below the rocky surface, are reflected the overhanging trees and festoons of
pendent creepers. So recently as 1560, human victims were still cast alive into
this well as sacrifices to the gods.

Farther south follow El Meco and Cankun over against Mujeres Island ;
Paalmul and Pamal on the shores of the strait separating Cozumel Island from
the mainland ; lastly, Tuhim crowning a cliff stiU farther south. The last-
mentioned appears to have been a powerful capital which was defended on the
land side by a solid enclosure still in good repair. The towers flanking this
rampart are also well preserved, and appear to be the same as those mentioned by

COZUMEL.— THE INT)EPENDEXT MAYAS. 169

the early navigators. The architecture of the Tuluin buildings presents some
peculiar features, which seem to point at a mingling of cultures in this remote
regioa of Mayaland. Some of the temples cause surprise by the Lilliputian
dimensions ; pierced bj- a narrow opening scarcely wide enough for a single man
to creep in, they would seem to have been made for a race of dwarfs. The part of
the seaboard where Tulum is situated belongs at present to the free Indians, and
in the same district stands a " holy rood," where they gather on solemn occasions
to hear the " voice of God," which issues from the cross, appointing the chiefs,
declaring peace or war, condemning or pardoning the guilty. A Catholic priest
who had ventured to penetrate into the country was brought before this cross,
which sentenced him to death.

Mujeres, like all the other islands fringing the coast, has remained in pos-
session of the Yucatecs. Its very name of " "Women's Island " recalls the
special part played by it in the religion of the Mayas at a time when crowds
flocked to its temple to worship the female deities of Yucatan. At present it is
inhabited by a few hundred black and half-caste fishers, who trade directly with
Havana.

Cozumel, a much larger island lying farther south, some twelve miles off the
coast, was also a much-frequented place of pilgrimage. It is the ancient
Ahcuzamil, or " Swallow Island," whose temple contained the image of a god with
swallow feet. Cozumel, which is densely wooded, has not yet been explored,
although, the Spaniards had occupied it even before the conquest of Yucatan, and
had built a church whose ruins are still to be seen. "When these ruins were
rediscovered, with the altar and cross in the midst of the bush, it was supposed that
they represented a Christian civilisation dating from pre-Columbian times. There
still remain some traces of the paved highway, crossed by other routes, which
traversed the island from north to south.

The southern part of the coast between Tulum and Chetumal Bay is sparsely
peopled by a few full-blood Indians, who have preserved their language, customs,
and independence. The territory of these free Mayas is bounded on the north bj"
the so-called " Southern Line," that is, the chain of fortified posts which extends
nearly along 20^ north latitude through Pefo, Ixmul, and Tihosuco. Formerly they
frequently crossed this "pale," and wasted the land as far as Yalladolid and
Tekax, and were even reported to have hacked to pieces two thousand persons in
the latter place with the manehette* At present the civilised Yucatecs are
separated by a kind of march or borderland from their independent kindred, who
no longer dare to cross over.

These independent Mayas are usually called " barbarians," although scarcely
less civilised than the others. They till the land in the same way, and keep their
roads in good repair; they make their own manchettes, shaped like short scimitars,
with iron imported from Belize, and procure their rifles from the same British
settlement. Some of them being well-made stalwart men, they make good soldiers,

• Manchette is tlie French-Creole form of the Spanish machete, a kind of hooked knife used in tropical
America for clearing' the bush.

170 MEXICO, CENTRAL AMERICA, WEST INDIES.

going through their drill with great precision, and keeping their arms in perfect
condition. Nobody can read or write, and the rites of the Catholic religion have
been forgotten, although they build cabins to which thej' give the name of
churches, and which serve as inns for wayfarers ; crosses are also set up at
intervals along the highways. The cacique is at once king and high priest, and
rules more by might than right, or until some other chief becomes strong enough
to seize the supreme authority in his turn. Saiifa CrKz, which lies on the plains
west of Asencion Bay, is their present capital, and this place was valiantlj'
defended against the forces sent from Merida in 1871. Bacalar, or rather
Bakhalal, the " Reed Palisade," on the swampy margin of a lagoon draining to
Chetumal Bay, was a Spanish settlement foimded in 1544 under the name of
Salamanca. Destroyed by the bucaneers in 1633, it was rebuilt and fortified in
1730, and even recently still carried on a brisk trade with British Honduras ; but
the Indian insurgents took it by surprise and massacred the whole population.
The remains of some of the people are still seen piled up in the old church where
they were slain.

IV. — Economic axd Social Coxditiox of Mexico.

The growth of the Mexican population has not been so rapid as that of most
other American states. The normal rate of increase has been greatly retarded b}-
the sanguinary war of independence, which lasted two years ; by military con-
spiracies and local revolutions, fomented by personal ambitions, but reallj- due to
class and racial hatreds ; by the misery of the peasantry deprived of their lands ;
by the depredations of the wild tribes. Apaches and Comanches on the northern,
Mayas on the southern frontiers ; lastly, by two foreign wars, one with the United
States, the other with France. Nevertheless, the population of the Union has
more than doubled since the beginning of the present century. In 1808,
Humboldt, carefully sifting all the statistical reports furnished to the admi-
nistration of New Spain, estimated the whole population at 5,837,000, or
5,767,000 for the part of the territory constituting the present Mexican republic.
In 1888, eighty years after Humboldt's estimate, the official census returned a
population of 11,396,000, which, according to the rate of annual increase, may be
certainly raised to 11,650,000 for 1891, this increase having been about 2 per cent,
during the last decade. As regards the distribution of the population, Mexico
differs from most other regions, the uplands being far more densely peopled than
the lowlands.

Immigration, which has acquired such great economic importance in the United
States, in Canada and Argentina, has but a secondary influence on the growth of
the Mexican population and the development of its resources. It is easy to under-
stand why so few emigrants from the Old "World direct their steps towards Mexico.
In this region the only unoccupied lands are the arid northern plains, till recently
exposed to the raids of marauding wild tribes, and the forest regions of the south,
largely under water and much dreaded by the white men for their climate.
Neither in Chihuahua nor in Tabasco can the European working classes hope to

ECONOMIC CONDITION OF MEXICO.

171

succeed except under specially favourable circumstances. Even in the provinces
where the soil is already appropriated, European settlers, expecting a relatively
high rate of Tvages, could never attempt to compete with the pure or half-caste
Indians who are satisfied with the lowest pay, and who, often crushed under the
burden of their debts, have to work almost gratuitously as veritable serfs. The
Mexican territory, already divided into great landed estates, lias scarcelj- any
room for small holders, the very class which elsewhere supplies the bulk of the
colonists. Hence, with rare exceptions, such as that of the French settlement in
Jicaltepec, the various attempts, made either by the government or by private
persons, to colonise the country by Italians or other foreign labourers have failed,

Fig. 71. — Density of thb Popttlatiox ix Mexico.

Scale 1 : 30.000,000.

Inhabitants to the Square Mile.

ffl
10 to 20.

O Federal district, 780 to the square mile.

OtolO.

20 to 40. 40 to 60

and upwards.

o Towns of over 50,000 inhabitants.

. 620 ITiles.

and the settlers have, after a time, all been dispersed, leaving the ground to the
natives. In 1888 the twenty " colonies " in the republic had a collective popula-
tion of only 6,319, and of these 1,-411 were Mexicans. Eecently an American
company has been formed to introduce negro settlers into the southern provinces,
while in another direction certain Chinese speculators propose to found colonies of
their fellow-countrymen. But if agricultural interests fail to attract many immi-
grants, foreigners are drawn to Mexico in yearly increasing numbers by the
inducements of trade and the industries. The construction of railways, telegraphs,
and factories of aU kinds has brought thousands of mechanics, engineers, and other

172 MEXICO, CENTRAL AMERICA, WEST INDIES.

artisans from North America. Italian craftsmen and petty dealers arrive in con-
stantly increasing numbers, while the community of speech facilitates the settle-
ment of Spaniards in the country discovered by their ancestors. At the end of
1887 the number of Iberians entered on the consular registers exceeded 9,500 ;
next to them the French and Italian settlers are the most numerous.

As in other countries where the population is steadily increasing, agriculture
and the industries have been developed at a still more rapid rate. Maize, which is
the chief crop throughout the temperate zone, and even on the plateaux, is still
the " corn," in a pre-eminent sense, for the Hispano-Mexicans, as it formerly was
for the Aztecs ; with it is made the tortilla, or hot cake, in the preparation of
which over a million of women are constantly employed. The annual crop is
estimated at from £22,000,000 to £24,000,000, whereas wheat, grown by the side
of maize in the cold zone, is valued at scarcely more than £4,000,000. Barlej'
represents even a still smaller value, while rice is raised only on the lowlands,
together with manioc on the Pacific and Atlantic slopes.

The frijoles, or haricot beans, form part of the diet of most Mexicans, and are
cultivated with peas, broad beans, and lentils to the extent of over £2,000,000
annually. Potatoes are scarcely appreciated in their original home, and next to
maize and haricots the most important article of food is the banana, a fruit of
Asiatic origin. In the warmer parts of the temperate zone a clump of bananas
with four or five stems yields from 620 to 720 fruits, twelve of which suffice to
sustain a man for one day. Thus a space of about twenty square yards growing
this plant produces enough food to support one person for a twelvemonth ;
whereas, to obtain the same result with wheat, a space of at least 160 square yards
would be needed. Besides the banana, Mexico produces an immense variety of
other fruits, being suitable for the cultivation of almost every plant grown both in
the tropical and temperate zones. The orange is here found associated with the
cocoanut, the grape with the chirimoya, so that no fruit-markets can surpass those
of the capital and the other cities of the plateau for the endless variety of their
produce.

Wine is not the national drink, although the vine might yield excellent results
in various parts of the country, and especially in Chihuahua and the other northern
states from Zacatecas to the American frontier. Its cultivation, already valued at
over 1,000,000 gallons in 1878, is even yearly increasing, but only to meet the
demands of the wealthy classes. // The plant which yields the really national beve-
rage is the maguey {agace americana), of which over thii-ty varieties are known
to agriculturists. It is grown on the upper slopes of the temperate zone and in the
cold regions, especially on the light sandy soils of the plateaux between 6,000 and
8,000 feet above the sea. Between Tlaxcala, Pachuca, and the capital, the maguey
fields cover many thousand square miles of land. The pulqucro obtains the
maguey wine by removing the bloom at the moment of its greatest energy. Then
the sap, which would have served to nourish the huge cluster of flowers, fills the
deep cavity caused by the excision, and this cavity is emptied from two to nine
times a day, according to the species and years, during the whole period of efflo-

ECONOMIC CONTDITIOX OF MEXICO.

173

rescence. Certain plants have thus yielded dm-ing the season as much as
2,000 or even 4,000 pounds of ag'iamkl, or sap, which may be drunk at once
slightly diluted with water. But it is usually allowed to ferment, and thus
changed to pulque, which may also be consumed on the spot, or forwarded while
quite fresh to all the surroundiug markets. The trunk line between Orizaba and
3Iexico, as well as the other railways on the plateau, have their daily pulque trains,
each often convej-ing hundreds of tons of the liquor ia all directions. The term
pulque is taken from the Araucanian language of Chili, and it has not yet been

Fisr. 72.— PnauEKo.

^^v^?^V^V\^;,

iG-r--'

made clear why it has been substituted by the Spaniards for the proper Aztec
name, ocf/i. In the Xahua traditions its discovery was attributed to a prince, who,
as a reward, received the king's daughter in marriage. At first strangers find
pulque somewhat disagreeable, owing to its smell of " high " meat or old cheese ;
but, as a rule, they soon learn to relish this drink, the stomachic qualities of which
are much praised by medical men. In its composition it resembles mare's milk,
and of all fermented beverages peculiar to the Old "World it approaches nearest to
the koumiss of the Kirghiz nomads. Taken in large quantities it intoxicates like

174 MEXICO, CEXTE-U. .UIEEICA, WEST INDIES.

wiue, and the drunkenness caused by it is said to be provocati\'e of wranglings and
bickerings. Besides pulque, the agave, treated in different ways, j-ields various
other drinks, sweet or acid, weak or strong, such as the mexcal or tequila, the
" Mexican brandy " of English writers.

Maguey, the planta de las maravillas of the Mexicans, yields other products
besides pulque and mexcal. From it the ancient Aztecs obtained paper, as their
descendants do soap, a species of gum, and especially various kinds of fibre used
according to their quality for making brushes, cordage, yarns, and textiles. The
smaller varieties of maguey known by the names of uili and lechuguilla {agave hete-
racantha) contribute largely to the wealth of San Luis Potosi and Yalles, while the
Zapotecs of Oaxaca export a variety of articles made from jnta fibre (bromelia
silvestris). Hcnequen (jjgave sisalensis ov Siml honp) has done still more for the
prosperity of Yucatan, and, thanks to this cactus, the most arid regions of the
peninsula have become the most productive. The fibre of this plant serves to make
cables, cordage, canvas ; which, though not so stout as that of hemp, is none the
less in great demand throughout the industrial centres of ^^orth America.

Two of the Mexican articles of export, cochineal and indigo, have ceased to
possess any economic importance, the former having been ruined by the com-
petition of the cochineal produced in the Canarj' Islands, the latter by the indigo
grown in Bengal, and now also partly replaced by mineral dyes. Oaxaca,
formerly the chief centre of the cochineal industry, and still exporting about 8,000
cwt. in 1870, produced only a fiftieth part of that quantity in 1877, and the outlay
had everywhere exceeded the returns. The nofial (cactus coccinifera), on which
the insect fed, has accordingly been almost universally replaced by other economic
plants, especially the coffee shrub. But there is another variety of cochineal
which yields large profits, and the cultivation of which has already made some
progress. This is the cije or axin {llaceia axin), that is, the " fat cochineal," very
common in all the low-lying and temperate parts of south Mexico. The adult
female of this insect, boiled in a metal vessel, yields about 27 per cent, of its
weight in axine, a fattj' substance about the consistency of butter, and the most
siccative oily product known to commerce. The Yucatecs formerly used it for
painting their dwellings, and the North Americans have also begun to employ it.
Every tree peopled by a colony of ajes easily yields 20 to 25 pounds of insects, or
about 6 pounds of grease.

Mexico also takes a certain limited share in the production of the great agri-
cultural industries of the world. Cotton is grown chiefly in the northern provinces
bordering on the United States, as well as in Guerrero and Yera Cruz. The
sugar-cane, inti'oduced by Feruau Cortes, is cultivated in the southern states of
Morelos, Puebla, Campeachy, and Yucatan, but almost exclusively for the local
consumption ; cacao, which thrives well on the lower slopes of the Soconusco
escarpments, and even in the interior of Chiapas, grows in a too thinly-peopled
region to yield large annual crops. Coffee is of far more economic importance,
especially as an item in the foreign trade of the country. In 1887 Oaxaca already
possessed 3,000,000 shrubs ; the plantations in the temperate zone of Yera

ECOXOMIC CONDITION OF ^[EXTCO.

175

Cruz, under the isothermal lines of 62^ to 68" F., are also very extensive, though
less appreciated than the coffee grown in the Uruapan district, Michoacau. The
tobacco raised on the banks of the Papaloapan, about the slopes of the Tuxtla
volcano, and on the spurs of the Tabascan hiUs, is scarcely inferior in aroma to
that of Cuba itself. Since the insurrection of 1868 on that island, several of the
banished planters have introduced this industry into Mexico. Vanilla also
succeeds perfectly in the hot moist lands about the foot of the eastei'n Sierra

Fig. 73.— ilArrr-ET Piaxtatiox3, Sas FBiscisauiTo Disteict, keae Mexico.

Madre, and especially in the environs of Papantla, and at one time Mexico was
the largest exporter of this fragrant pod. Xow, however, it is far outstripped by
the little French colony of Reunion.

Stock-breeding is one of the chief industries of ^Mexico. In some of the
haciendas in the relatively arid northern provinces, as well as in the moist
savannahs in certain parts of Vera Cruz and Tabasco, the whole population consists

176

MEXICO, CENTRAL AMERICA, ■\\'EST INDIES.

of vaqueros, or " cowboys," each lla^'iag in charge hundreds of homed cattle, or else
from eight to ten atajos, or over 200 horses. These herdsmen, emploj'ed on farms
of 10,000, 20,000, or even 30,000 cattle, are, for the most part, Indians or half-
castes differing greatly from other Mexicans. They are a half-savage race of
" centaurs," who capture the untamed horse or overturn the strongest bull with a
throw of the lasso, and whose loves, combats, and heroic adventures are a favourite
subject with romance writers. But generations flow on and industries change.
Formerly the ox and the horse roamed the prairie Uke the aurochs or bison, and the
cowboys were rather hunters than keepers. After capturing and branding the

Fig. 74. — Chtef AoEicniTUEAL Peoduce in Mexico.

Scale 1 : 30,000,000.

r-Cane. Coffee.

Tobacco.

Maguey, Cactus. Cochineal. Vine.

Cacan .

Cotton.

Maize, Cereals.

Eice.

Bananas.

Caoutchouc.
- 620MUes.

Forests. Lands little cultivated.

animal with its owner's initials, they again released it till it had to be recaptured
for the shambles, or to be transferred to the dealer. Even the breed of ponies
known as mustangs or hdinos had reverted to the wild state, living in the bush far
from running waters, and in summer, when all the meres were dry, slaking their
thirst by chewing the thornless cactus. But at present many farmers have intro-
duced a more orderly system of stock-breeding, developing new breeds by
crossings with European, American, and even Asiatic animals. Thus the Indian
zebu and the carabao, or buffalo of the Philippine Islands, have been introduced
with good results in the Mexican cattle-farms. The Andalusian horses brought

EC0N03IIC CONDITION OF MEXICO. 177

over by the conquerors, and endowed with the qualities of mettle, strength, and
endurance, have also been crossed with other breeds, and a more varied choice is
thus daily offered to the gallant 2tlexican cavaliers, who are so proud of their
horsemanship, their gay trappings and richly-embi'oidered, gold-fringed costumes.

Smaller animals, such as sheep and goats, find less favour with the stock-
breeders, though numerous herds of swine are reared in the forests and on the
plains, especially in the States of Mexico and Jalisco.

When the Spaniards arrived in the country with their traditional theories of
property, they were unable to understand the communal system prevalent among
the natives. Montezuma himself they looked upon as a sort of ruler like their
own sovereign, and they concluded that the great personages of the empire were
feudatory vassals in the possession of vast domains. Hence they supposed that
they had only to substitute themselves for those Mexican lords, and Fernan
Cortes set the example by seizing vast territories such as the Cuernavaca district
and the " Oaxaca valley," with the populations inhabiting them, ifvearly the
whole country was thus distributed amongst the conquerors, and the natives,
hitherto unaware that the land-could be appropriated, became themselves so much
property, like the soil itself. Still a small plot was usually left for their use
within a radius of a few hundred yards round about the parish church.

Although the Spaniards were driven out by the war of independence, the
system of large domains introduced by them remained intact. The haciendas
are not so much farms as territorial divisions as extensive as a rural parish or even
a shire. As a unit of square measure the hacienda has a superficial area of 35
square miles, but some of the northern haciendas are a hundredfold this size,
covering a surface equal to one of the large departments of France. The whole
land between Saltillo and Zacatecas, a distance of over ISO miles, belongs to three
owners. These owners are naturally unable to cultivate more than a relatively
small part of such estates, in the heart of which they erect a fortified dwelling,
and aroimd this stronghold, serving as a sort of citadel during the civil wars, are
grouped the houses of their clients and retainers. AU highways converge on the
seignorial mansion ; in the neighbourhood are held the marlcets, and all travellers
must call on its master either to demand hospitality or procure fresh mounts and
supplies. The vast enclosures in the vicinity are carefully guarded refuges, where
the herds are driven to escape the raids of marauding Indians or predatoiy ani-
mals. But while a solitude reigns round these isolated centres of life and industry,
the great hacendados left the country open to incursions, and it was owing to this
baneful system that tiU recently the Apaches and Comanches were able to extend
their daring plundering expeditions far into the interior of the republic. As was
remarked nearly a century ago by Humboldt — " Mexico is a land of inequality ;
nowhere else does there prevail a more frightful inequality in the distribution of
wealth." About the middle of the century the official surveys returned over 13,000
ranchos, or small holdings, with one " cabin " as a centre of habitation. But even
were they the indisputable property of the free peasantry', all these ranchos
constituted a scarcely perceptible portion of the national wealth. Since that

VOL. xvn. N

178

MEXICO, CENTEAX AMEEICA, "W'EST INDIES.

Fig 75. — The Worlii's Yield of Silteb.

time vast ^racts have been surveyed and either sold or rented. But one-third of
these national lands has been gratuitously given to speculating land companies,
while a large part of the rest has been assigned to other financial societies or
to private persons in lots of 6,250 acres ; a single company thus owns no less
than 15,000,000 acres, while very little has been assigned to the peasantry.

The bulk of the Mexican population is dependent on the great mining or land
companies. Of the two classes the miners are by far the more indejjendent, owing
to the neighbourhood of the towns that have sprung up round about the works.
The peasants, poorly paid and kept by the very force of circumstances in the
power of the territorial lords, differ in name only from real serfs. Destitute of

the necessary resources, they are
unable to borrow except from the
proprietor or his steward, and
these loans, consisting of pro-
duce or merchandise sold at ex-
orbitant rates, can be paid back
only by manual labour, contracted
for j'ears in advance. From year
to year they see the prospect of
freedom fading away, and their
crushing liabilities are transmitted
from father to son. Doubtless all
Mexicans are free "by Act of
Parliament ; " no landowner has
any longer the right to reduce a
debtor to servitude, or sell him to
another owner, in discharge of
all or part of any real or fictitious
claim. The son is no longer even
liable for his father's debts, nor
the future of minors be

Mexico.

Other Countries.

can

pledged for advances beforehand.
But in many districts remote from the capital, and especially in the south-eastern
provinces, the law is a dead letter, and the natives are even said to have been
secretly sold to Cuban planters. Practically servitude still exists, as during the
early days of the conquest, for it is the natural consequence of the landed system.
To be enslaved, to die a slave, in a land so fair, is the burden of every song round
the villages of Tabasco. The traveller, passing through the countrj', cannot fail to
be impressed by the plaintive tone of these songs, which float continually on the
air in the neighbourhood of all human habitations.

At the beginning of the century the chief wealth of Mexico, apart from maize,
maguey and the other alimentaiy produce of primary necessity, consisted in the
precious metals ; the export trade was in fact confined almost exclusively to the
products of the mines. These products represented an enormous value, without

ECONOMIC CONDITION OF MEXICO.

179

even taking into account the vast sums which were smuggled out of the country,
and of which no returns could be made. There are numerous auriferous deposits
ia ilexico, but her chief treasures are the silver mines, which since the discovery
of America have yielded fabulous sums to the trade of the world. According to
the researches of Humboldt, the total value of the gold and silver furnished by the
metalliferous veins of Xew Spain amounted to £425,000,000 from the conquest to
the year 1S03. This figure is regarded as somewhat too high by Soetbeer, Del ilar,
Neumann, and other economists, who, however, estimate the value down to the
year 1890 at no less than £800,000,000, or over one-fifth of the total production
of the world dui'ing the four centuries since the first voyage of Columbus.

In 1850, before mining oper-
ations had besun in California, "^S- 76.— The 'W'oeld's Tielb of the Peecious Metais.
Arizona and Xew ilexico, regions
formerly belongiug to Xew Spain,
the proportion yielded by Mexico
since the conquest had been much
higher, or about one- third. This
country has contributed more
than any other to the spread of
a metal currency as representative
of value ; yet till recently cacao
beans, squares of soap, and simi-
lar objects of daily iise were em-
ployed in Mexico itself for petty
dealings. The yield of the Mexi-
can mines, so far from falling off
during the present century, has
considerably increased, despite
wars and revolutions, and flooded
mines. The improvement in
the highways of communication,
combined with the introduction

of better mining processes, has more than compensated for the advantages enjoyed
by Mexico at a time when the precious metals possessed a greater relative value
than at present. An oscillation in international trade favourable to the develop-
ment of the mining industries would have the result of increasing to an enormous
extent the production of silver in itexico, where there are thousands of well-
known deposits still untouched owing to their relative poverty, or to the lack of
communications. Even the slag heaped up about the workshops stiU contains
from 25 to 30 per cent, of metal, or altogether £240,000,000. In the year 1889
alone, as many as 2,077 declarations were registered respecting new mines. At
present the yearly production exceeds two tons of gold, valued at £-300,000, and
600 tons of silver, valued at £5,500,000, and in 1889 the total yield exceeded
£8,000,000.

•L3
Mexico.

Other Countries.

180

MEXICO, CENTEAL AMERICA, ^T.ST INDIES.

So extensive is the area of the Mexican mineral region that it may be estimated
at four-fifths of the whole territory. The chief metalliferous zone is that of the
western Sierra Madre from the Arizona frontier to the isthmus of Tehuantepec ;
but the other Sierra Madre is also very rich, especially in the States of San Luis
Potosi and Hidalgo. Besides gold and silver the Mexican highlands contain
deposits of platinum, copper, lead, iron, manganese, and quicksilver, the last of

Fig. "7. — Yield of Gold and Sllvee ln Vaeious Countries since 1492.

NEW WOELD.

Mexico: £848.000,000.

Bolivia and Peru : £820,000,000.

Uaitea states : £400,000,01)0. Best of America : £500,000,000.

OLD WOELD.

£ (580,000,000.

it:

Australia: £300,000,000.

Each square represents £400,000.

great value in the reduction of the ores. Coal has been found in Sonora, on the
banks of the Rio Grande, in the Sierra de Tamaulipas and in the southern
uplands. Sulphur is obtained in the craters both of the active and quiescent
volcanoes ; near Tuxpan are found petroleum springs ; by scratching the surface
the sulphates and carbonates of soda, saltpetre, sea salt are turned up ; lastly, there
occur quarries of marble, onyx, jasper, basalt, obsidian, while certain rocks abound
in precious stones.

ECOXOMEC CONDITION OF MEXICO.

181

The early explorers often speak of the beautiful chalchihuites, jadeites or
emeralds, with which the ilexican nobles adorned themselres and decorated their
idols. Amongst the resources of ilexico must also be included yellow amber,
common in Oaxaca and the neighbouring states, but of an imknown vegetable
origin. It is perfectly transparent, of a lovely golden hue, and, seen iu the light,
shines with a fluorescent glow. In certain parts of the interior it is found in such
quantities that the natives use it even for kindling their fires. The specimens of
this substance sent to Europe come from the coast, where it occurs here and there
in the sands. In ilexico there are reckoned altogether about a hundred impor-
tant mineral districts, and in 1888 there were as manv as 575 mines at work, to a

Kg. 78. — Chief Meteeai. Regioss of Mmco.
Scale 1 : 30,000,000.

Coal. Salt.

, 620 Maes.

great extent owned by English capitaKsts. The total yield of all metals, earths,
stones, and combustibles is valued at nearly £10,000,000 yearly.

To mining, which was alread}- represented in all its branches, such as smelting
and minting, under the Spanish rule, have now been added some of the large
manufacturing industries. Cotton, one of the chief crops in the republic, is
entirely emploved in the ilexican spinning and weaving mills, and manufacturers,
moreover, import large quantities of the American staple. Over 50,000 families are
supported by the cotton industry, and about a hundred factories produce a quantity
estimated at 30,000,000 pounds a year. The States of Puebla, Jlexico, Queretaro,
Guanajuato, Jalisco and Coahuila are the chief producers of cotton textiles, which
take the form of manias, sarapes, rehozos, and other articles forming part of the

182 MEXICO, CENTE.VL AMEEICA, "WEST INDIES.

national costume. The artisans of the plateau are also skilled in all the crafts
connected with saddlery, leather-dressing, embroidery and other trimmiags so
highly appreciated by the Mexican cavaliers. The complete outfit of a regular
dandy is worth some hundred pounds, including the trappings of his mount. All
the large European industries, even those requiring a deep knowledge of scientific
processes, have now been introduced, and are contributing to transform the
economic conditions of the countr}\ Moreover, a large number of the small local
industries still hold their ground. Thus the Indians of Michoacan continue to
produce those articles of featherwork which the conquerors admired in Monte-
zuma's palaces, and the Mixtec women still weave, with the cocoons of a native
species of bombj'x, certain silken stuffs, coarse to the touch but very stout, and
highly prized by the natives.

In most of the provinces the ceramic art has undergone but slight change
since pre-Columbian times. The Indians, as a rule, are excellent craftsmen, as
patient, methodical, and regular in their operations as the machines which they
employ. Nor do they lack the necessary initiative where it is needed by the
character of the work. Thej' display remarkable talent in designing and modelling,
they copy without difficulty all objects presented to them, and knead wax with
rare skill. In them survives the genius of their forefathers, who sculptured the
facades of the temples, carved hieroglyphic inscriptions, designed and painted
topographic charts.

This general increase of culture, shown by a more scientific and a more active
utilisation of the local resources, has at the same time reacted favourably on the
development of foreign commercial relations. At the beginning of the century
under the Spanish regime, the annual movement of the exchanges carried on
exclusively through Vera Cruz was about £8,000,000. At present it has in-
creased more than threefold, while the precious metals, which till recently formed
seven-eighths of the exports, have now fallen to two-thirds or even one-half.
Amongst the more important exports are dj'ewoods, timber, skins and hides,
besides such colonial produce as coffee, vanilla, tobacco, caoutchouc, sugar and
indio-o. Mexico also forwards large quantities of fruits to the United States, but
no manufactured goods are exported. These industries have not yet acquired
sufficient development, nor are they sufficiently specialised to find an opening in
foreign markets, ^f imported goods the chief are, in their order of importance,
textiles, machinery, hardware, paper, chemicals, glass and china ware, besides flour
and other alimentary substances. Thanks to the proximity of the United States
and the connecting lines of railway, the first place in the foreign trade of the
country is taken by the northern republic : hence, in the Mexican ports nearly all
shipping documents are drawn up in the English language. Great Britain comes
next in importance to the United States, France occupying the third jjlace. These
three countries, which collectively possess nine-tenths of all the exchanges, are
followed by Germany, whose relations are increasing, especially along the Pacific
coast ; whilst Spain, which formerly monopolised the whole trade of the colony,
now takes only the fifth place.

ECONOMIC CONDITION OF MEXICO. 183

Like the United States, Mexico has endeavoured to foster her industries by a
system of tariffs affecting most objects imported from abroad. As a rule the duties
levied at the seaports or on the land frontiers amoimt to 38 per cent, of the
declared value. Hence the contraband trade, especially in American cotton
fabrics, continues to flourish all along the line, but principally in the " free zone,"
where 850 custom-house officers, distribut-ed over a distance of 1,680 miles, are
supposed to keep effective guard over all the exchanges. Some articles, regarded
as useful for the industrial or scientific development of the land, enter free of dutv.
In 18S9 onlv eightv ports vrere open to foreign trade, exclusive of the " land
ports " on the northern and southern frontiers. In 1889 the Mexican seaports
were regularly visited by twelve lines of steamers, six in direct relation with
Europe, the TTest Indies, and the Eastern States of the northern republic, two
with California, and four engaged on the coast service. The sea-borne traffic by
steam represents nearly one-half of all the exchanges, although sailing-vessels,
mostlv flying the national flag, are four times more numerous than steamers in. the
movement of the seaports. The coasting-trade is reserved exclusively to Mexican
shipping.

Mexico has lagged a quarter of a century behind the civilised countries of
West Europe in railway building. The first line, connecting Vera Cruz with a
suburb, was not opened tiU 1850. Another line, constructed in 1857 between the
capital and the shrine of Guadalupe, was rather an object of curiosity for pleasure-
seekers or devotees than a means of communication subservient to commercial
interests. But after the collapse of the attempt made to restore the monarchy and
the definite recognition of Mexican independence, a beginning was made with the
various projects that had been long worked out for the development of a regular
railway system between the large centres of population. Thanks to the aid of
British, and to a less extent of United States capital, the work was undertaken and
pushed on so rapidly, soldiers being even employed as na-\-vies, that in the course
of a few years Mexico already compared favourably with several European countries
in the relative extent of her railway system. A great obstacle to the progress of
the new means of communication was the Kne between Vera Cruz and the capital,
which was the first taken in hand, and which happened to be the most difficult of all.
But before any expansion could be given to the system it was considered essential
to open the great trade route, placing the capital of the republic in direct relation
with the ports of the United States, Great Britain, France, the "West Indies, and
South America. To accomplish this result enormous works had to be executed,
works unexampled even in Europe. Mountains had to be scaled to double the
height of the highest Alpine tunnels, the three hot, temperate, and cold zones had
to be successively traversed in a vertical direction, in order to reach the region of
snows without extending the route beyond all reason along the interminable slopes
of the lateral valleys. This colossal work has been successfully executed, and the
Vera Cruz line to the capital now offers an amazing series of stupendous bridges,
A-iaducts, tunnels, sharp curves, steep gradients, and other engineering triumphs.

The Metlac viaduct between Cordoba and Orizaba is a model of constructive

184

MEXICO, CENTExiL AMEEICA, WEST INDIES.

skill, in whicli lightness and strength are happily combined. But the section
between Maltrata and Boca del Monte, giving direct access to the edge of the
Anahuac plateau, is so precipitous that it never fails to excite the apprehension of
travellers, both ascending and descending this tremendous incline, which has a total
rise of no less than 4,000 feet in a distance of sixteen miles in a bee line. At the
hio-hest pass near the Malinche volcano the line stands at an altitude of 8,420 feet
above sea-level, and to avoid a still more elevated pass over the snowy range, it is
deflected northwards, thus obliquely traversing the Mexican valley in its entire

Fig. 79. — The Boca del Monte Accent.
Scale 1 : 90,000.

0 ,.:

^^^^.

r^-m

^'^-'■4o

.jCfa'.'-^SiiStS"..

. . ....,j

97°

West Qp breenwich

q7-,5'

;,300 Yards.

length. "With good reason the Mexicans speak of this great engineering work as
a monument of human genius.

To connect the network with that of the United States was a far easier under-
taking. The Anahuac plateau has a general incline from south to north without
any abrupt declivities, so that throughout most of the section between the capital
and the Rio Grande del Norte heavy engineering operations could be dispensed-
with. In 1884, two years after the Americans themselves had reached this river
at Laredo, the Mexicans opened their line to Nuevo Laredo on the opposite bank.
The same year they completed another line running parallel with the western
Sierra Madre all the way to Paso del Norte. Railway communication was
thus henceforth continuous between Mexico and San Francisco, St. Louis and
New York : by the latter route passengers were able, in 1889, to travel from

an:

tti

ECONOMIC CONDITION OF MEXICO.

185

Mexico In eleven clays to the Paris Exhibition. Another line crosses tlie Rio
Grande at Piedras Xegras between El Paso and Laredo, and a fourth traversing
Sonora connects the American frontier with the port of Guaymas. But aU
these railways, which give Xorth Americans and their wares easy access to
Central Mexico, and which converge towards the heart of the country, constitute
a serious political danger. They lay open the frontier to a powerful neighbour,
who has already occupied about half of the former territory, and who has more
than once threatened to extend the range of her conquests. Hence it becomes all
the more urgent to increase the lines which descend from the uplands to the sea-
board, and which would afford equal commercial advantages to all countries without
an}- special privilege to the United States. To the Vera Cruz line on the Atlantic

Fig. 80. — Mexicax Ratlwat Systfvs rs 1890.
Scale 1 ; ao.OOO.COO.

7/est oP Ureenw;ch

' 620 Miles.

side has already been attached the San Luis Potosi — Tampico line ; but on the
Pacific side, where trade is less developed than on the slopes facing towards Europe,
the system is not yet completed which wiU ultimately extend to the seaports of
Altata, ilazatlan, San Bias, Manzanillo, Sihuantanejo, Acapulco, Huatulco, and
Salina Cruz. On this Pacific side the engineering difficulties are as great as on the
Atlantic slope. Thus the line which runs west of the capital across the Ajusco
crests to the heights of Las Cruces near Salazar, attains an extreme altitude of
lOjOOO feet, or about 2,600 feet above the city of Mexico ; this is the highest
point yet reached by the Mexican system.

In 1774, the engineer Cramer, commissioned to survey the isthmus, reported
that a navigable canal might be cut from ocean to ocean without much difficulty and
expense, and in his report he traced the course of such a canal. But uo attempt

186 MEXICO, CENTRAL AMERICA, WEST INDIES.

was ever made to realise the pi'oject. In 1811 the Spanish Cortes also decreed
the opening of this line, but their decision could, be regarded as little more than an
abstract resolution inspired through the fear of losing the empire of the West. Immc
diatel}- after the constitution of IVew Spain as an independent state, the geographical
study of the land was resumed ; but no definite canalising projects were formed
till 1842, when Jose de Garay offered to take such a work in hand. But he failed
to raise the necessary capital, and a like fate befell the American company which
had obtained the concession, in 1867, after the fall of Maximilian. All these now-
abandoned projects of an interoceanic canal have been followed by that of a ship
railway on the same plan as that of the Chignecto isthmus in Nova Scotia, but of
far greater proportions. The importance of such a route, especially for the navi-
gation of the United States, is obvious enough. For the trade of the whole world
the best line across Central America would, doubtless, be that of Panama, which
lies on the direct highwaj' from England to Peru, ChiH, Australasia, and Indo-
nesia. But the Americans are naturally most interested in the route lying nearest
to their own territory. Most of their traffic is carried on between New York and
San Francisco, on which highway the Tehuantepec route is 860 and 1,630 miles
shorter than those of Nicaragua and. Panama respectively. Planned by Eads, the
same American engineer who opened the South Pass in the Mississippi delta,
the Tehuantepec ship railway would be regarded mainly as an American work,
and the future tariff was even arranged in such a way as to favour the Anaerican
quite as much as the Mexican seaports. Mexico was, none the less, ready to grant
great privileges to the promoters, such as exemption from taxes for ninety-nine
years, and the grant of nearly 1,250,000 acres of land. The expenditure was esti-
mated at £15,000,000 for a line 150 miles long, the heaviest engineering work
being a cutting 850 yards long and over 100 deep at the highest point of the
waterparting. This would reduce the steepest gradient to less than two in 100
yards ; but the undertaking was suspended by the death of the engineer.

The Mexican telegraph system has been rapidly developed throughout every
province of the republic, having increased threefold during the last decade. It
is now also completed by the submarine cables connecting Galveston with the
Mexican seaboard, and Vera Cruz with the northern and southern ports. Another
submarine line now also joins Salina Cruz, the port of Tehuantepec, with the
Pacific seaports of the Central American republics. Most of the lines belong to
the federal government, though several are also owned by the different states, railway
companies and private corporations. The telegraph and postal services increased
more than fourfold in the eight years ending in 1888 ; yet the letters forwarded
are still at the low rate of three per head of the population, showing that, com-
pared with the countries of West Europe, instruction has hitherto been in a back-
ward state.

But education also is at last making rapid progress. Most of the states have
adopted the principle of compulsion and gratuitous public instruction for all chil-
dren ; but the oflScial returns make it evident that pubHc opinion has not yet
completely sanctioned such measures. At the same time it is impossible to ascer-

GOVEEXMEXT OF MEXICO. 187

tain tte precise number of ctildren attending schools, owing to the carelessness of
provincial governors in forwarding the yearly reports to the federal administration.
It is certain, however, that from decade to decade great progress is being made,
and the attendance at schools already represents a twentieth of the whole popu-
lation, the proportion beiug highest in the States of Queretaro, Guanajuato,
and Chiapas. But much still remains to be done in the remote districts, and
especially for the Indian populations. Ignorance and superstition are still so
prevalent amongst the natives that so recently as 1874, two " sorcerers," a mother
and her son, were burnt alive ia a village in the State of Vera Cruz for having
caused the death of a young man by incantations. On the other hand brigandage
has rapidly disappeared with the development of the railway and telegraph ser-
vices, and most of the highwaymen have taken to more legitimate pursuits. The
time has passed when travellers were warned by placards posted at the cross-
roads of the capital to provide themselves with money under the threat of being
beaten, or losing nose or ears.

A taste for reading is not yet very widespread ; hence libraries are few and
poorly equipped, although scientific literature has already acquired a certain
value. It comprises some standard works on a level with the admirable carto-
graphic undertaking, superior to similar works in the United States, which when
finished will contain the whole topography of Mexico in thousands of well-executed
sheets. Popular literature consists mainly in journals, of which at the end of 1888
as many as 120 were issued in the federal district alone, and 385 in the whole
state. In 1852, all publications taken together comprised only 60 journals,
ilexico is one of the Hispano-American countries which claim to speak the best
Castilian.

T. — GOVERXIIEXT AXD A.D>nNlSTRATIOX.

Constituted on the model of the Anglo-Saxon federation, the republic of
ifexico consists of a certain number of independent or sovereign federal states
united together according to the compact of 1 857. Each state is, so to say, a
miniature of the confederation, with its chambers and governor, its laws and local
finance. But its deliberations and jurisdiction are confined within certain limits
laid down by the general constitution of the republic. It can neither declare war
nor conclude peace, and all its relations with foreign powers have to be conducted
by the central government.

But independently of all constitutional formidas, there can be no dcubt that
at present the populations of the various states, formerly without cohesion or any
sense of national unity, now form a somewhat compact political body. In 1846,
during the war with the United States, no popular movement was made against
the invaders, and the two States of Tera Cruz and Zacatecas even refused, in
virtue of their autonomous rights, to take any part in the war against the Xorth
American republic. But the national sentiment assumed a far more active cha-
racter at the time of the French invasion and the assumption of the imperial title
by ilaximilian. T^Tien Mexico at last issued triumphant fi'om this formidable

188

MEXICO, CENTEAL AMERICA, WEST INDIES.

struggle, the exultation of victory and the consciousness of nascent strength tended
to create a Mexican nation in the true sense of the term. From that time dates
the real history of modern Mexico.

The annexation of Mexico to its powerful northern neighbour, an event confi-
dently foretold by so many politicians as inevitable, becomes daily more improbable as
the country continues to increase in wealth and population. The centres of gravity
of the Mexican and Anglo-Saxon republics will always be separated by a distance
of at least 1,500 or 1,600 miles, and the intervening space largely consists of arid
regions, where the population must always remain scattered. The zone of dis-
affected states, which American adventurers had endeavoured to constitute in the
north between Sonora and Tamaulipas, with the view of dividing the republic and

Fig. 81.— Political Division's op Mexico.

Scale 1 : 30,000,000.

, 620 Miles.

annexing it piecemeal, have resumed their place as integral members of the
political organism. Thus Mexico and the United States seem destined to remain
distiact ethnological domains.

Every Mexican citizen is regarded as a freeman, with the right of choosing
his own domicile, of associating with whomsoever he Hsteth, of comiug and going
whithersoever he pleaseth, of beariag arms and freely expressing his thoughts
either verbally or through the press. No titles of nobility or hereditary preroga-
tives are recognised, and all citizens are considered, in virtue of the constitution,
as equal before the law. All are electors on the single condition of themselves
signing their voting-papers. Even foreigners become citizens on acquiring pro-
perty in the country, or when children are born to them, unless within a period
of eight months they express a formal desire to keep their first nationality.

GOTEEXiTENT OF MEXICO. 189

The number of parliamentary representatives increases with the population ;
for this purpose each state is divided into as many electoral circles as there are
40,000 inhabitants, and each circle elects a representative from candidates over
twenty-five years old for a period of two years. The senators, who must be at
least thirty, are elected for four years, two for each state, so that they number
fifty-sis for the twenty-seven states and two territories ; every two years half of
the senate is re-elected. The Congress, that is to say, the two chambers combined,
holds two regular annual sessions, comprising a total of at least forty-five sittings;
both deputies and senators receive a yearly allowance for their services. A
permanent delegation of the Congress sits during the recesses. The capital,
where Cong-ress meets, lies not in anv of the states, but in a neutral territorv, the
so-called "federal district," formed by a circuit of "two leagues," or six miles'
radius round the central spot. The president of the Mexican United States,
chosen in the second degree by pepular vot«, was, till recently, appointed for a
term of four years, but in virtue of an amendment in the constitution passed in
1887, he may be re-elected for a second term, and the president in whose favour
this law was enacted was in fact so re-elected. In 1890, by another law, he was
made president for life.

The judiciary power is exercised by district and circuit courts and a supreme
tribunal composed of judges elected for a period of six years. The ciNil and
criminal code is the same for all the states except those of Tera Cruz and
Tlaxcala. Imprisonment for debt is abolished, and the republic binds itself to
reject all extradition treaties for political offences. The decimal system has been
legalised for weights, measures, and currency.

Under the colonial regime the clergy exercised great power in the government
of the country. Its enormous revenues, combined with the spiritual authority
enabling it to open or close the gates of heaven, ensured it the unquestioned
control of the Indian populations. Some of the prelates had incomes of £40,000,
and, according to Lucas Alaman, the ecclesiastical estate represented half of the
whole property of Mexico. Although the wealth and power of these high
dignitaries were diminished by the war of independence, the clergy still retained
great influence, for the Creole priests, such as Hidalgo and Morelos, who sided
with the people or even stirred them to revolt against Spain, caused those church-
men to be forgotten who, on the contrary, hurled anathemas against the rebels.
About the middle of the present century Lerdo de Tejada still estimated at one-
third of the national territory the lands owned by the clergy. With the revenues
derived from hypothecated trusts and from tithes still illegally collected, this
vast fortune yielded an annual income of about £4,000,000. But in 1855 the
clergy numbered altogether not more than 4,615, some "poor curates," others
prelates and other dignitaries " rolling in wealth." A first blow had been given
to the power of the Church by the Spaniards themselves in 1767, when all the
Jesuits residing in Mexico were imprisoned, deprived of their property and then
banished. The revolution was completed nearly a century afterwards, in 18-57,
by the mortmain law ordering the immediate sale of ecclesiastical property. But

190 MEXICO, CENTE.\L AMERICA, WEST INDIES.

the struggle for ascendency was none the less continued, and the higher clergy
did not consider themselves vanquished till after the fall of Maximilian, the
withdrawal of the French troops, and the definite triumph of the republican
party. They were then deprived of their effects, and the priests lost the right
of superintending schools and celebrating their rites in public. The establish-
ment of religious corporations or communities was forbidden, and since 1873 the
Church has been completely sejiarated from the State, which has proclaimed itself
neutral as regards the various cults. Over a hundred Protestant churches,
belonging to twelve different sects and nearly all founded by American mission-
aries, have been built in the capital and in other parts of the country. In 1866
the capital also contained as many as 37 Protestant schools, attended by 1,310
pupils. On the other hand, in several remote districts where the population is
purely Indian, the old Catholic ceremonies are being rapidly forgotten. Many
parishes remain without priests, and the natives cease to practise any outward
form of worship. In nearly all the towns, except in Michoacan, churches have
been transformed to workshops, barracks, warehouses, even circuses for bull-
fights, for this pastime, after having been interdicted, is again permitted.

Although small, the Mexican army is relatively larger than that of the
United States. In 1889 it comprised altogether over 27,000 men with the
gendarmes and rangers ; with the reserves it forms a force of 160,000 of all
arms. Mexico also possesses a flotilla of two corvettes and three gunboats, and
naval schools have been founded at Mazatlan and Campeachy. The Mexican
forces are doubtless insignificant compared with the vast armaments of the great
military powers ; nevertheless they suffice to weigh heavily on the federal budget,
the expenditure under this head amounting to from £2,500,000 to £3,000,000,
or over one-third of the national outlay.

The finances of the republic were long in a state of the greatest confusion,
especially at a time when foreign traders were able to emjiloy diplomatic influences
for the purpose of raising fictitious claims, and compelling the Mexican Govern-
ment to pledge the customs as security for their demands. Since that epoch, the
revenues of the republic have rapidly increased. Over half of the receipts
are derived from the duties levied at the seaports almost exclusively on imported
goods. Stamps represent a fourth, and direct contributions not more than a
twentieth of the annual budget. Another resource is the profit on coining, which
has acquired so much importance in Mexico, where the various mints have issued
altogether £720,000,000 in gold and silver since their foundation.

To the federal budget must be added those of the different states, which
average about £2,000,000 j-early, and lastly, those of the municipalities, which
have an estimated collective value of from £200,000 to £250,000.

The national debt, although less in proportion than about the middle of the
century, was estimated in 1890 at £20,500,000.

In the Appendix will bo found a table of the several states and territories, with
their areas and approximate populations.

CHAPTER ITT.

BRITISH HOXDLTL-VS (BELIZE).

HIS colonial territory, one of tlie least important in the vast
British Empire, is, geograpliicallY speaking, nothing more than a
|S=jj^. j section of Yucatan, conventionally severed from the peninsula.
On the north, however, the frontier towards Mexico is distinctly
marked by the southern shores of Chetumal Bay, and by the
course of the Eio Hondo. Southwards the Eio Sarstun (Sarstoon) has been
chosen as the political botmdary as far as the so-called Gracias-a-Dios rapids.
From this point an arbitrary parting-Kne runs nearly north to Garbutt's Falls on
the Eio Viejo (ilopan, or Belize), and is continued thence to the Eio Hondo.
This line, laid down by the treaty of 1860, but not actually surveyed, is assumed
very nearly to coincide with 89° 30' west longitude.

Physically an integral part of Yucatan, this region was also politically regarded
as within the Spanish main ever since the year 1506 or 1508, when its shores
were visited by Yauez Pinzon and Juan Dias de Solis. But towards the close of
the seventeenth century, some English corsairs seized the island of Carmen, which
half closes the entrance to the Terniiuos lagoon on the opposite side of Yucatan.
In 1717 they were driven from their stronghold by a Spanish flotilla, and then
took refuge on the east coast of the peninsula ; here they founded a settlement,
which, from the name of their leader, was known as Wallace, a term afterwards
corrupted by the Spaniards to Belice or Belize. In this outlying station, far
removed from the centre of Spanish authority, they easily held their ground, and,
with the aid of the Indians and half-caste negroes, even overran the surrounding
districts. But in 1730 an expedition was sent against them, which seized their
boats, and fired their cabins and the piles of logwood collected on the beach.
After the departure of the Spaniards, the English settlers returned from the
forests where they had taken refuge, and reoccupied the place.

Again expelled by a second expedition, they again returned, erected fortified
posts at the entrances of all the rivers, and remained henceforth free from all
attack. By the treaty of Paris of 1765 they acquired the right to hold peaceful
possession of the territory already occupied, but only for the purpose of working
the surrounding forests, and trading in the timber and other natural produce.
Their forts and palisades had to be razed, all permanent agricultural settlements,

192

MEXICO, CENTEAI, AlIEEICA, WEST INDIES.

Fig. 82.— Bbitish Honbubab.
Scale 1 : 2,800,000.

municipalities, and organised forces were interdicted, and the country remained
a political possession of Spain. These conditions were maintained by the treaty
of Yersailles of 1783 ; which, however, enlarged the area of the forest domain
conceded to the descendants of the English intruders. But England was the

stronger power, and the war
that broke out towards the
close of the last century,
followed by the naval vic-
tory of 1798, enabled Great
Britain to claim, by right
of conquest, the territory
which she had hitherto oc-
cupied by erfforced conces-
sion. The sovereign dominion
which the English now set
up was never seriously con-
tested, and the protests of
the Spaniards were regarded
as mere formalities. The
settlers even continued from
year to year to encroach on
the territories lying beyond
the stipulated frontiers. Thus
the southern frontier, origi-
nally fixed at the Rio Sibun,
was gradually shifted about
110 miles farther south to
the Amatique inlet, at the
head of the Gulf of Hon-
duras.

British Honduras, whose
superficial area is approxi-
mately estimated at 7,560
square miles, is but thinlj'
peopled, the whole popula-

89' West oF GreenwTcli

87^0

llepths.

Oto 60
Fathoms.

60 to 500
Fathoms.

600 F.tthoms
and upwai-ds.

-60 Miles.

tion numbering, in 1887,
somewhat less than 28,000.
Tn the sixteen years since
1871, the total increase had
only been 3,000, and at present there cannot be more than about three per-
sons to the square mile. Belize is thus by far the least densely-peopled region
in Central America, a fact explained by the unfavourable climatic conditions,
which make most of it unsuitable for Anglo-Saxon colonisation. There are
scarcely more than 400 English settlers altogether, a number greatly exceeded by

BRITISH HONDFRAS. 193

the Spanish half-castes and the descendants of political refugees from the Central
American republics. In the towns the bulk of the people are Mulattos of all
shades, while the hamlets scattered over the rural districts are occupied chiefly
by the so-called " Caribs," that is, Indians who have, no doubt, some Curib blood
in their veins, derived from the Caribs removed in 1797 by the English from
St. Vincent to the islands on the Honduras coast.

Some 30 miles above the town of Belize the river is fringed by a large
number of artificial mounds, which have not yet been explored. They ajjpear to
have been either burial-places, or raised camping-grounds, to serve as refuges for
the people during the floods. Anyhow, they show that this region was not always
a solitude.

Although within an eighteen-days' voyage of England, the interior of Belize
is less known than Central Africa. Yet few regions abound more in natural
resources of all kinds. " One of the most remarkable peculiarities of the climate
and soil is that almost all the tropical products of commercial value may be grown
in the same zone. I have frequently seen maize, rice, bananas, pineapples,
oranges, coffee, cacao, cotton, cassava, rubber, and cocoanuts all flourishing on the
same piece of land. Cacao of good quality is found growing wild in the forests ;
there is an abundance of fibre-producing plants, particularly henequen and silk-
grass, varieties of the aloe, and there is a large extent of land suitiible for cattle
and mule breeding."* In the southern part of the tsrritory, the area of drainage
within the British frontier is very narrow ; the Hlls in this district are, for the
most part, merely the advanced spurs of the Sierra de Chama, which traverses the
Guatemalan province of Alta Vera Paz. In these unexplored regions the
highest summits visible from the sea exceed 1,000 feet, while the little isolated
group of limestone rocks known as the " Seven Hills," terminating in a head-
land on Amatique Bay, falls to about half that elevation. Northwards, pine-
clad cliffs skirt the shore at a certain distance inland, forming, so to say, a second
beach rising above the low-lying coast zone.

The Cockscomb Mountains.

In British Honduras the highest mountains are the C( ckscomb range,
which are also connected by a lateral ridge with the Guatemalan system. The
loftiest peaks lie within British territory, where the main nrest is disposed in the
direction from west to east, while from the northern slopes torrents descend to the
River Belize. These uplands, which are richly wooded on their lower flanks, and
dotted with a few pine-trees on their higher escarpments, consist partly of granite,
as shown by the rolled blocks in the beds of the torrents. Explorers have
sijecially noticed hard limestones veined with quartz and vertically disposed schists,
which are very diSttcult to scale. These are probably the pedernaks which Cortes
and his followers took twelve days to cross during his wonderful expedition to
Honduiasin 1524. Victoria Peak, the culminating point, ascended for the first

* J. BcUaraj-, Proc. Ji. Geo. Soc, September, 18S9.
\"C)I,. X\'1I. O

194 MEXICO, CENTRAL AMERICA, WEST INDIES.

time during the Goldsworthy expedition of 1888, has an altitude of 3,700 feet.
Other summits, one of which was named, from the geologist of the expedition,
Bellamy Peak (2,700 feet), follow in the direction from west to east, where the
range terminates abruptly in a few hills or low offshoots. Victoria Peak, which
presents the aspect of a sharp and apparently inaccessible needle, was, neverthe-
less, scaled by several members of the expedition, aiding themselves with ropes
and a few gnarled and stunted fig-trees.

" The top of Mount Victoria is a thorough j^cak, with but little room for
moving about, and an extensive view is obtained on all sides. For some distance
the prospect is nothing but alternate ridge and valley, densely wooded. There
were no higher points north of us, but to the south Montagua and Omoa, in
Spanish Honduras, were seen towering above the rest. No open country was
seen, nor any of the traditional lakes.'' * In the Cockscomb and conterminous
Guatemalan uplands geologists have discovered iron and lead ores as well as traces
of gold and silver. But whenever these highlands become connected with the
neighbouring se iports, they will have the still greater advantages of offering to
agricultural settlers miny fertile valleys, and a far more healthy climate than
that of the surrounding lowlands. Here sooner or later wiH be established the
health-resort of British Honduras.

Rn'F.RS.

The low- lying plains receive an abundant rainfall, the excess finding its way
to the sea through numerous and copious streams. The Sarstun, on the southern
frontier, is 700 yards wide at its mouth, and has nearly seven feet of water at the
bar ; within this obstruction vessels ride at anchor in depths of 35 or even 40 feet.
The other rivers, following northwards, although generally rising nearer to the
coast and less voluminous, are all equally navigable. Some even send down
sufficient water to fill the coast lagoons on both sides, and carry far seawards two
banks of alluvial matter. One of the largest is the Sibun, which reaches the sea
a few miles south of the capital, after traversing a region of limestone hills pierced
by underground galleries. It receives some of the waters flowing from the Cocks-
comb range, which however is chiefly drained by the Mopan, or Belize as it is usually
called by the English. This river rises south-east of Lake Itza, or Peten, in Gua-
temala, and after a winding north-easterly course enters British territory at the
Garbutt Falls. Here it is known to the inhabitants by the Spanish name of Rio
Viejo, or " Old River," probably because before the arrival of the English settlers
it had already been used as a navigable waterway. The Belize deposits a great
quantity of sediment in the shallow waters about its mouth, where a long alluvial
peninsula has thus been formed, which projects beyond the normal shore- line.
North of tlie Belize no other rivers worthy of the name are met except the Nuevo
and Hondo, which discharge their waters at the south-west corner of Chetumal
Bay. The Hondo, that is, " Deep," deserves its name, being navigable for a great
part of its course, which forms the frontier-line between British Honduras and

* Bellamy, loc. cit.

BEITISH HOXDrEAS. 195

that part of Yucatan which is still held by the independent Indians. Eoth the
Xuevo and Hondo traverse low-lying districts studded with shallow lakes which
communicate with the shifting fluvial channels.

The SiLiBOARD.

For a distance of loo miles, between the Amatique and Chetumal inlets, the
whole seaboard is fringed b}" an outer coastline formed by coral reefs, which here
and there develop wooded cays, islands, and inlets, the lines of mangroves grow-
ing even on the still submerged banks. The space between the two coasts, which
is no less than eighteen miles wide, is for the most part occupied by shoals covered
by only a few yards of water. Xevertheless winding channels sheltered from the
surf run parallel with the seaboard between the coral beds, and thus form a valuable
line of inland navigation available for the coasting trade.

Seen from the high sea, the chain of breakers separating the inner lagoons
from the outer waters seems impassable, nor can they be crossed vrithout a pilot
even by skippers provided with the best charts. Js^evertheless some of the passages
are very deep, that of BeHze, amongst others, ranging from 50 to 150 feet and
upwards. Others, again, are so shallow that the local fishermen are able to wade
across them. The opening between the Yucatan mainland and Ambergris, largest
of the cays, is accessible only to small craft drawing less than 30 inches.

Chetiunal Bay, which is separated from the sea by Ambergris Island, presents
the same general features as the two more northerly bays of Espiritu Santo and
Asencion in Yucatan, but it is far larger, having a superficial area of some 400
square miles. The whole basin teems with coralline life, and the reefs in process
of formation, covered with a mean depth of from 10 to 16 feet of water, are highest
at the entrance of the passage, growing more slowly towards the head of the
inlets, where depths of 24 to 26 feet are met. The inland basin itself is navi-
gated only by flat-bottomed craft, which are engaged in shipping timber and dye-
woods about the mouths of the rivers. It is noteworthy that both shore-lines, the
already consolidated beach on the mainland and the outer chain of cays, run nearly
parallel to each other, and that the latter forms the direct southern continuation
of the east Yucatan seaboard. Moreover, the valley traA'ersed by the Belize river
above its great bend round to the east is continued northwards by a series of
lagoons and by another fluvial valley, that of the Eio Xuevo (Xew Biver), all of
which are disposed in the same direction, forming with the west side of Chetumal
Bay a third line parallel with that of both shores.

The Eio Hondo also flows in the same diiection along the foot of a cliff which
may likewise have been an old shore- line. Lastly, still farther inland, the parallel-
ism is maintained in the interior of Yucatan by the twin Mariscal and Bacalar
lagoons, and if the maps of this part of British Honduras can be trusted, other
lagoons, such as Aguada San Pedro, Aguada Concepcion and Aguada Carolina,
au follow the same general direction, which would appear to be that of successively
developed coastlines. But this hypothesis still awaits confirmation from the

196

MEXICO, CENTRAL AMERICA, WEST INDIES.

geological survey of the interior, which will probably show that the banks of the
parallel rivers and lagoons are really composed of coralline rocks constituting
west and east a series of terraces with very broad steps. An analogous pheno-

Fig. 83. — Paealielism of the Old and Eeceijt "Watebcottbses.
Scale 1 : 3,000,000.

Depths,

Oto60
FathomB.

50 to 600
Fathoms.

500 Fathoms
and upwards.

. GO Slilcs.

menon is presented by the concentric shores of Florida, which were successively
formed by the coral-builders during the course of ages.

The islands in the gulf beyond the fringing reefs also follow the general
direction and belong to the same formation. Thus Turneffe, that is, Tierra Nueva,
a verdant group facing Belize, rests on a foundation of reefs whose chanuels, partly

BBITISH HONDUEAS. 197

obstructed by sand, form natural reservoirs for fish and turtles. Turneffe may
be regarded as a large island disposed in a line with the Chinchorro bank and

Cozumel Island in the Yucatan waters. It looks like a first instalment towards a
future beach, while yet another shore-line in course of development seems to be
indicated by the more distant Glover and Lighthouse rocks.

Climate, Flora, Fauna.

British Honduras, a mere political enclave at the neck of the Yucatan peninsula
between Mexico and Guatemala, differs little in its climate from these regions.
At Belize the mean temperature is about 78" or 80' Fahr., and although even
in summer it scarcely rises above 86', the heat is very difficult to bear, owing to
the humidity of the atmosphere. In the town of Belize, surrounded by rivers,
lagoons and swamps, fogs are frequent and dews abundant ; hence the sky is
mostly overcast, and when the west wind blows, the mosquitoes arrive, with
intermittent agues caused by the exhalations from the neighbouring marshes.
"Winter is the best season, when the northern winds prevail, and when the roar
of the breakers is heard on the chain of islands, under whose shelter the water
remains calm at Belize.

The flora and fauna of British Honduras resemble those of Yucatan, but in
all the non-calcareous and well-watered valleys the forests are far more extensive
and leafy. In the interior the woodlands alternate with pastures such as those
of Peten, where hundreds of thousands of cattle might be raised, but where the
destructive nigua (jmlex peiiefram) has been introduced from the east. The
British Honduras waters are well stocked with fish, and here large numbers of
turtles are captured for the London market.

Topography.

The town, which under the Spanish form of Belize stiU bears the name of its
founder, the freebooter "VTallace, lies on the west side of the inner lagoon, where
the scarcely emerged land is traversed by the Rio Yiejo (Mopan, or Belize). The
two quays of the port are connected by a wooden bridge which crosses the
mouth of the river. But the ground is so low that it has had to be artificially
raised with the ballast of vessels frequenting the harbour, with driftwood and
other flotsam. Nevertheless a tide a little higher than the usual, which scarcely
exceeds twenty inches, would stiffice to flood the houses, ilost of these are built
of wood, or rest on pUes, for stone or brick would soon sink into the spon^v
soil. A few villas stand on the neighbomiag islets, these being considered more
salubrious than the town, beyond which extends a marshy tract crossed by embank-
ments. The harbour shoals so gradually that it is accessible only to vessels of
light draught ; it is also exposed to the east winds, though the surf is broken by
the islands fringing the coast and by the more distant reefs. The only supplies
procurable on the spot are the fish and other produce of the neighbouring waters ;

198

MEXICO, CENTEAL AMEEICA, WEST INDIES.

it is quite impossible to raise any crops on the flooded or swampy ground in the
neighbourhood, and Belize formerly drew nearlj^ all its provisions from Bacalar
in Yucatan, whence they were forwarded by Chetumal Bay. But since the
destruction of that place, supplies are drawn from various parts of the seaboard,
and especially from the United States across the Gulf of Mexico. Although
surrounded by rivers, Belize is unable to procure any water even from the Mopan,
and is supplied by cisterns. But while the neighbouring forests abounded in
mahogany, campeachy wood and cedar, which were easily floated down in the

Fig. 84. — Belize and the Cockscomb MouNTAr:Ja.
Scale 1 : i.eon.ocn.

Leplhs.

n f 0 5
Fathoms.

5 to 50
Fathoms.

50 to 500
Fathoms.

500 Fathoms
and upwards.

30 Miles.

form of rafts, the settlers did a flourishing trade, and grew rich despite the many
drawbacks of the position. Now, however, timber of large size has become rare,
and the inhabitants, mostly blacks or people of colour, have been compelled to
engage in other pursuits, and at present the trade of Belize consists chiefly in
produce and wares imported from the United States and Great Britain, which
are redistributed amongst the Atlantic ports of Guatemala and Honduras. The
local e-Kports are chiefly fruits, and most of the traffic is served by a steamer
plying regularly between New Orleans and Belize.

The population of the town has fallen from nearly 11,000 in 1844 to less than,
6,000 in 1889, and Belize can scarcely fail to continue to decline whenever more

I :

BRITISH HONDURAS.

199

frequent direct commuuications are established between the Central American ports
and those of Europe and the Uuitcd States. A revival of prosperitj^ ™;iy, however,
be brought about by developing the neighbouring sugar, coffee, banana, orange,

Fig 85. — Domains of Bkitish Honduras.

Scale 1 : 2,500,000.

Crown Liuids. Domam of the Other CoQcessions.

Belize Estate Company.

, 60 Miles.

caoutchouc and henequen plantations, and by opening new routes or railways with
the inland districts of Peten and Yucatan. But such pro.<pects appear somewhat
remote, at least so long as most of the estates continue to be held by absentee pro-

200 MEXICO, CENTEAL AMEEICA, WEST INDIES.

prietors, unwilling or unable to develop the local resources. One land compiny
alone owns over one-third of the colonial domain, although unable to utilise a
hundredth part of its property.

The port of Coroml, or Pahncraie, occupies a favourable position at the mouth
of the New River and not far from the Rio Hondo ; it is thus the natural outlet for
the timber felled in these two fluvial basins. Corosal has also naturally benefited
by the destruction of Bacalar, which was situated some 30 miles to the north-west,
on the lagoon of like name. Those who escaped the fury of the Indian rebels
emigrated in mass to British territory, and Corosal is now the second town in
the English colony, with flourishing sugar plantations, and about 5,000 inhabi-
tants, mostly of Spanish speech. The other settlements are mere hamlets or
plantations, or else fishing villages such as San Pedro, on Ambergris Island, which
does som3 traffic with Balize. The most important p^rts on the coast are Stanii
Creek and Ptnifa Gordn, both occupied by Carib settlers, who have cleared large
tracts and supply Belize with cattle, fruits, and vegetables. About 700 negroes
from the Southern States have also founded the settlement of Toledo, about ten
miles south of Punta Gorda, where they are chiefly occupied with sugar-growing.
Turneffe has only a single fishing hamlet, though the explorations have shown
that it was formerly far more densely peopled.

Administration.

British Honduras is a Crown Colony, under the direct control of the Home
Government, and administered by a Governor, with a legislative council of ten
members. The annual budget of over £40,000 consists chiefly of custom-house
dues, supplemented by a grant from Great Britain ; a small sum is also raised by
the sale of lands at the relatively high price of nine shillings an acre. Few
small holders, however, venture to settle in the neighbourhood of the powerful
financial companies. Belize and some other ports are occujDied by a few troops
from Jamaica. In 1872, they were called upon to protect the frontier against an
incursion of the Ma3a Indians. The blacks of Belize enjoy the privilege of self-
government, electing a " queen," who is enthroned with great pomp, and to whom
they submit all their little differences.

CHAPTER IV.

GEXTRAL AilEKICA GUATEilALA. HOXDUKAS. SAX SALVADOR, >'ICAEAGUA,

COSTA RICA).

I. — Gener.\l Survey.

^TIE long strip of tropical lands disposed iu the direction from nortii-
west to soutli-east between the Tehuantepec Isthmus and the Atrato
vaUey, constitutes a geographical region quite distinct from the
great continental masses of North and South America ; they are,
=J however, usually grouped with the northern section of the New
World, to which they are attached by a broad base gradually narro \ ing south-
wards. In a remote geological epoch they were detached from both, constituting
a chain of islands analogous to those of the West Indies. But the exploration of
these lands is still far from complete, except in a few districts separated from each
other by less-known intervening tracts ; hence it is not yet possible to indicate the
exact outlines of this insular chain before the marine channels were filled up. It
seems evident, however, that this process was not accomplished in a single epoch,
and some of the passages stiU persisted for long ages after others had been changed
to dry land either by eruptive formation? or by alluvial deposits.

Some of the ancient interoceanic channels, such as those of Tehuantepec and
Nicaragua, may still be clearly traced along their primitive shores. The Costa
Eica and Panama peninsulas are also now attached to the mainland by isthmuses
whose original marine character is easily determined. The other straits are more
difficult to recognise ; but it is no longer doubtful that the sea formerly occupied
the central depression of Honduras at the Guajoca and Eancho Chiquito passes,
as well as the central plateau of Costa Rica, at that of Ochomogo. Other channels
flowed between Chiriqui and David Bays, while the track of the Panama and
Darien Canals was already indicated by the former marine depressions, one of
which is also now occupied by the valler of the lower Atrato. The narrowest part
of these isthmuses has been attributed politically to the South American State of
Colombia ; but such official awards correspond in no way with, the divisions far
more sharply traced by the hand of nature herself. Thus the physical limit of
Central America is still clearlv determined ia Colombian territory by the course
of the Atrato, the wooded morasses lining its banks and the depression connecting
this fluvuil basin with that of the San Juan.

202 MEXICO, CENTRAL AMERICA, WEST ^DIES.

Central America, tuken in its narrowest political sense, that is as the region
of isthmuses-excluding Chiapas, .-hich belongs to Mexico, and the double crescen
of Panama, which is mcluded in Colombia-has more than once constituted a .mgle
political dominion. Under the Spanish rule the Eoyal Aui:enza of GuateoKda,
^hich also comprised the present Mexican province o£ Soconusco, extended south-
wards to Chiriqui Bay. In 1823, when the independence of Guatemala was pro-
claimed, the southern provinces continued to form part of the new repubUc, of
which Guatemala was the capital. But in 1838, after much cud strife, this con-
federacy was definitely dissolved, and Central America became decomposed into tne

Fig. 86.— Old Stkait3 in Ce.vteal Amebica.
Scale 1 : •215,0>)0,0U0.

Wesl oF Greenwich

^ 300 Wiles.

five autonomous States of Guatemala, Honduras, San Salvador, NiCAU.iGUA and

Costa Eica. . .

But in 1879, the constitution of Guatemala already anticipated an intimate
political union between the various republics, and engaged on Its part to maintain
and cultivate " mutual family relations " with them. It also expressed the wish
of the people to again form part of a larger Central American nationality. All
natives of the neighbouring republics became by right Guatemalan citizens by
merely expressing a desire to that effect. At the same time, all these acts of
fraternal legislation were accompanied by warlike armaments, to compel the other
states to join the union should they prove refractory. In 1886, on the mitiative
of Guatemala, a congress was held for the purpose of preparing a new scheme of

CENTE-IL AMERICAN STATES. 203

federation, aud next year it was decided that all disputes between the several
states should be henceforth decided, not by war, but by arbitration. In order to
give practical effect to that principle, Costa Rica and Xicaragua, at that time
at war about a question of frontiers, appealed to the decision of the United Slates
President. Lastly, the congress assembled ia September, 1889, in the city of
San Salvador, concluded a treaty of union between the five states, thereby
constituting themselves a federation under the name of " Centro-America," for a
provisional term of ten years. According to this ofiicial project, the novitiate

llg. 87. — Political Dmsioxs of Cexteai. Asiebica.
Scale 1 : 17,500,000.

, SOOJIiles.

should be brought to a close in 1900, when the definite federal constitution will
be proclaimed.

But scarcely had this federal compact been signed when disappointed ambi-
tions tore it to shreds. A fierce war broke out between San Salvador and
Guatemala ; Costa Rica and Honduras soon after joined in the frav ; and no sooner
had these troubles been momentarily quelled than Hondni-as became the scene of
a sanguinary revolution, calling for the active interference of Guatemala. In
the middle of Xovember, 1890, President Bogran, of Honduras, had to fly for his
life, and a de facto government was proclaimed by General Sanchez, leader of the
revolutionary party. Sanchez was soon after captured aud shot. But towards

204 MEXICO, CENTRAL AMERICA, WEST INDIES.

the close of the year the outlook was extremely gloom}', and nil the Central
American states threatened to be involved in a general conflagration.

The great leno-th itself of Central America, which extends south-eastwards
for a distanje of about 750 miles, with a comparatively narrow mean breadth,
seemed already to point at a future rupture between the various ethnical groups
in this reo-ion. Here the inhabited zone is even considerably narrower than the
strip of land itself. The civilised populations, Spanish or Mestizo, have nearly
all settled along the Pacific coast, so that, on the opposite slope, the great fluvial
basins of Gu itemala, the northern forests of Honduras, the almost unexplored
valleys of Mosquitia, are, so to say, so many desert regions, occupied by a few
half-savage scattered tribes. Thus the civilised peoples, those who have con-
stituted themselves in republican states, form little more than a slender cordon
of towns and villages stretching along the west side of Central America. This
ethnical contrast beWeen the two oceanic slopes is in great measure explained by
the physical contrasts of soil and climate. On the Pacific side are found nearly
all the more fertile and less humid lands, which offer a more regular alternation
between the dry and the rainy seasons. But other causes also tend to the relative
depopulation of the Atlantic seaboard. Columbus here first began to kidnap the
natives, and his example was followed by the West Indian planters in search of
slaves to cultivate their estates. Thus all the lands accessible by sea, or by the
rivers, were wasted, and the populations that escaped capture by the slave-hunters
took refuge in the remote interior. Then the Spanish settlers were naturally
unable to establish factories and develop plantations in a depopulated and unculti-
vated region. Nevertheless, they needed, at any cost, fortified stations to main-
tain the communications with the mother country ; but when Spanish supremacy
in the "West Indian waters was supplanted by that of the buccaneers, these posts
themselves were often attacked and captured. Thus, of the two Central American
seaboards, the eastern, facing towards Europe, was the " dead," the western,
skirting the boundless waste of Pacific waters, the " living " coast.

But the relations have greatly changed since Central America has ceased to
be a remote dependency of Spain. In the first place the population has increased
more than threefold ; at the census of 1778 the " kingdom " of Guatemala,
excluding the province of Chiapas, had a total population of 847,000, which had
risen to about a milKon in 1821, when Guatemala declared its independence of
Spain. Since that time the inhabitants of the five republics have more than
trebled ; the groups of settlers, formerly isolated, have been gradually brought
closer together by the foundation of intermediate colonies, while the Atlantic
slope has been partly reclaimed for cultivation, and already possesses its towns and
seaports.

Before the introduction of steam navigation, the communications were rare
and uncertain, depending on the seasons and the winds, and even under the most
favourable conditions they were always less rapid than at present. The general
service of packets plying between the seaports and on both sides, arriving and
departing with the regularity of clockwork, has reduced by more than nine-tenths

CENTRAL AMEEICAN STATES. 205

the dimensions of Central America, measured not by miles, but by hours. More-
over, the interoceanic roads and railways have almost brought into close proximity
coastlands which were formerly separated by journeys of several days, and even
■weeks. A project has recently been submitted by the President of the United
States to Congress, having for its object the exploration of the Central American
States preparatory to the construction of a railway to run longitudinally from
Mexico, through Oaxaca, Guatemala, and San Salvador to Panama.

But much preliminary geographical work remains to be done before any such
scheme can be taken in hand. Certain regions, such as the metalliferous districts
of Darien, which were formerly well known, have even fallen into oblivion. In
the uninhabited tracts, so difficult are the routes across the swamps and densely-
wooded uplands that small exploring parties run great risks, over and above the
exposure to the dangerous hot and moist climate. Paths have to be cut through
the dense tangle of trees and creepers, and the traveller has to avoid the im-
penetrable thickets, precipitous escarpments, slopes liable to frequent landslijjs,
gorges flooded by rushing torrents, bottomless quagmires, from which escape is
impossible. Explorers provided even with the best guides and porters have
often been unable to advance more than one or two miles a day, and have at times
been fain to give iip the struggle and retrace their steps.

The labour already expended during the course of four centuries in discovering
or creating interoceanic highways represents a prodigious outlay of energy,
which would have certainly sufficed to accomplish some one great work had it
not been frittered away in a thousand different essays. The first survey was
made by Columbus himself, who, in lo02-3, skirted the Central American sea-
board from Honduras to Vcragua in search of the passage which he hoped would
lead him to the "mouths of the Ganges." During this voyage he at all events
heard of another sea, which lay a little farther west. Ten years afterwards
Nunez de Balboa, at the head of nearly 800 Spanish soldiers and native carriers,
forced his way across swamps and rivers, through forests and hostile populations.
In twenty-three days of incessaint struggles and hardships he succeeded in crossing
the isthmus, here 40 miles wide, and thus reached the sj)acious inlet which he
named the Gulf of St. Michael. Advancing fully armed into the rising flood,
he took possession of the new ocean " with its lands, its shores, its ports and
islands, from the north to the south pole, within and without both tropics, now
and for ever, so long as the world shall last, and unto the judgment day of all
mortal races." But the strait still remained undiscovered, and it was being
sought in the waters west of the Antilles, when Magellan had already found it
at the southern extremity of the American continent.

When it became evident that there existed no marine passage between the
Caribbean Sea and the Pacific, the idea naturally occurred of opening such a
passage across one or other of the narrow isthmuses separating the two oceans.
Such an undertaking was beyond the exhausted resources of Spain ; nevertheless
expeditions were made for the purpose of studying the problem at the isthmus
of Tehuantepec, on the banks of the San Juan and Lake Nicaragua, at Panama,

200 MEXICO, CENTRAL AMERICA, WEST INDIES.

and other points. Since the Central American states have asserted their inde-
pendence such projects have followed rapidly one on the other, all based on
individual or collective surveys, and promoted by costly expeditious, official
encouragement and concessions, lastl}' even by colossal operations actually begun
and actively prosecuted for years. The annals of Central America record no less
than a hundred plans and schemes for cutting the isthmuses since the year 1825,
when the Mexican Congress had the Tehuantepec region again surveyed, and
more accurate information brought to bear on the project brought forward by
Orbegozo in 1771. Panama, like Constantinople and Alexandria, lies at a point
of paramount importance for the growing commerce of the world ; if before the
era of universal peace the leading nations agree to proclaim the neutralisatiori
of certain places essential to the well-being of the human race, assuredly the
American isthmuses wiU be included in the category of such territories.

II. — Guatemala.

This republic is by far the most important of the five Central American states,
for it contains nearly one-half of their collective population. Like its Mexican
neighbour, it still bears a name of Aztec origin, the term Guatemala (Quauh-
temallan), according to some interpreters, meaning " Eagle Land," though
a less poetic etymology gives it the signification of " Land of the Wooden
Piles." Others again write, U-ha-tez-ma-la, a group of syllables which would
mean, "Mountain vomiting water," the whole region being so named in reference
to the Agua (" AVater ") volcano, one of its loftiest cones.

Guatemala corresponds very nearly to the two former Spanish provinces of
Quezaltenango and Guatemala, though the frontiers have been shifted in many
places, while in others they were never accurately determined. Those at last
officially adopted coincide neither with the natural geographical divisions nor
with the distribution of the ethnical groups. Thus the whole of Soconusco with
a part of Chiapas would seem properly to belong to Guatemala, of which they
form an orographic extension. On the other hand Peten, inhabited, like Yucatan,
by Mayas, and also resembling that region in the nature of its soil and products,
should form a political dependency of that ri-gion rather tlian of Guatemala,
from which it is separated by a steep mountain range. Towards British Honduras
the frontier has been drawn by a straight line across mountains and valley's, from
one torrent to another, the political border coinciding with the natural features
only in the district where it follows the Sarstun river to its mouth in Amatique
Ba}'. Eastwards the territory of the republic is limited by a meandering line,
which runs north-east and south-west from the mouth of the Rio Tinto on the
Atlantic to that of the Rio Paza on the Pacific. This line follows the crests of
the hills throughout a great part of its course, though here and there the boundary
is purely conventional. Taken as a whole Guatemala, excluding the northern
plains, has the form of a triangle with its base on the Pacific and its apex
projecting towards Honduras Bay.

GUATEM.y:.A.

207

Physical Features.

In its main outlines the relief of Guatemala is extremely simple. The more
elevated part of the plateau skirts the Pacific at a mean distance of 50 or GO
miles from the sea, and presents in this direction its more precipitous but also its
more regular escarpments. The slope facing the Atlantic, although much longer
and more gentle, is more difficult to traverse, owing to its abrupt ravines and the
deep gorges excavated by the running waters. The Guatemalan range does not
terminate in a sharp crest, but, on the contrary, is rounded off towards the summit,
where it broadeus out in granitic plateaux of various extent, forming, so to say,
so many mesas, or " tables," somewhat analogous to those of Anahuac. The great
irregularity of the sierra is due to the volcanoes, which have risen above these

Fig. 88. — Tkesd of the Guatemalan Raxges.
Scale 1 : 4.600,1X10.

, CO Miles.

mountains but which are not disposed in a lino with the sierra ivself. Towards
the frontier of Chiapas and in the Altos, or uplands, of Quczaltenango, the great
eruptive cones lie exactly on the upper edge of the plateau, their slopes merging
in the escarj^ments of the pedestal on which they rest. But farther on, that is,
in the direction of Salvador, the axis of the volcanoes running almost due south-
east ceases to coincide with that of the sierra, which trends more to the north,
while the lofty pyramids rise midwaj' on the slope of the range, where they are
enclosed by a rampart of ravines. But to the traveller coasting along the Guate-
malan seaboard, the peaks which he sees rising at intervals above the land horizon
seem to shoot up from the very crest of the mountains.

The elevation of the escarpments rising above the southern shores of Guatemala
falls gradually from the frontiers of Chiapas south-eastwards in the direction of
Salvador. In the Altos or "Heights," as the western part of the state is called,

208 ilEXICO, CENTEAT. AMERICA, WEST INDIES.

the plateaux exceed 6,500 feet ; that of Totonicapam rises even to 8,000 feel, while
the chief summits tower some 3,000 feet still higher. The great central plain of
Guatemala, lying on the waterparting between both oceanic slojies, has a mean
altitude of 5,000 feet, and is dominated bj' the crater-shaped peaks of the Antigiia
district, which reach an elevation of 10,000 feet. Lastly, in the eastern provinces
the uplands do not appear greatly to exceed a mean height of 3,300 feet, with
culminating peaks from 4,000 to 5,000 feet.

South-east of the active Tacana volcano, which has been chosen as the boun-
dary between Mexico and Guatemala, the next igneous cone is Tajomulco, which
also exceeds 11,600 feet; it dominates the plateau undt.r the form of a huge
and perfectly regular cone clothed at its base with dense forests. The Indians
here find large quantities of suljihur, which led DoUfus and Mont-Serrat to sup-
pose that the deposits were constantly renewed by solfataras as fast as they were
cleared away. Here flames were distinctly seen shooting up by BernouilH in 1863.
Beyond Tajomulco no burning mountains occur till Quezaltenango is reached.
This group comprises three cones disposed north and south, the northern, some
ten miles from the town, being a mere hillock 600 or 700 feet high. But the
southern, Santa Maria, whose superb peak, 12,400 feet high, is visible from the sea,
is one of the most imposing mountains in Guatemala. Like the other it h is been
extinct from time immemorial, and dense forests now clothe both its flanks and
the crater. In most of the Central American eruptive groups the southern
volcanoes have remained longest active; but here it is the central cone, the Cerro
Quemado, called also the Quezaltenango volcano, that still continues in a dis-
turbed state. Less elevated than Santa Maria, the Oerro Quemado (10,250 feet)
in no way presents the aspect of a typical volcano. Its symmetry was doubtless
destroyed during the last eruption of 1785, whea the entire terminal cone was
blown away, leaving in the place of the crater a spacious irregular plaia covered
with a chaos of boulders, between which fumeroles are now seen to rise. Since
then it has been quiescent.

East of the Quemado and be3-ond the deep gorge of the Rio Samala rises Mount
Zufiil, or the " Volcano," as it is emphatically called bj' the natives. Yet no
record remains of any eruption, nor has any explorer yet discovered, in the dense
forests clothing its flanks, the aperture through which the lavas were formerly
ejected from this cone, which, like those of the surrounding district, consists of
trachytic porphyry. About eighteen miles farther on, and in a line with the axis of
this igneous system, the extinct San Pedro (8,300 feet) raises its pyramidal peak
near the south-west corner of Lake Atitlan. About ten miles farther east three
other cones, connected at their base, are disposed north and south transversely to
the main chain. The two northern peaks, both about 10,000 feet high, terminate
in small craters already overgrown with vegetation ; but the underground forces
are still active in the southern member of the group, which is commonly known as
the Atitlan volcano, and which towers to a height of 11,800 feet. At the time
of the conquest, Atitlan was in a state of commotion, and when the natives heard
the continuous rumblings in the interior of the mountain, they threw a young

PHYSICAL FEATUrvKS OF GUATEMALA.

309

maiden down the crater iu order to propitiate the angrj' demon. It was again
active in 1828 and 18-i''3, and since that time abundant vapours have been con-
stantly emitted by the crevasses near its summit.

But the most famous volcanoes in this region are those which dominate the
central part of the plateau in the vicinity of the successive capitals of Guatemala.
Looking southwards from the pleasant city of Antigua, the eye sweeps over a

Fi.^

89.— Chain OF the Fuego Volcano.

Scale 1 : 00,000.

■-u^

o.-f*l

West or breen\vich

. 2,200 Yard

magnificent prospect of cultivated plains, where the horizon is bounded on both
.sides by the harmonious profile of the mountain ranges, towering 6,000 feet above
the surrounding plateau. On one side is the chain terminating in the Fuego,
or "Fire," on the other the Agua, or " Water," volcano. The eastern sierra,
where one crater is still active, is itself merely an elevated ridge above which
rise nine or ten eruptive cones, all disposed in the direction from north to south.
The northern craters, which are all extinct and overgrown with vegetation,
\oi,. x\ii. p

210 MEXICO, CENTRAL AMERICA, WEST INDIES.

culminate in tlie AcatenangD cone, called also Fico Mai/or, or Pa Ire del Volcan
("Father of the Volcano"), because it rises higher than Fuego, and is, in fact,
the loftiest summit in the whole of Central America (l^i.TOO feet). It was
ascended in 1868 by Wyld de Duefias, who found nothing but three nearly
obliterated craters, although sulphurous vapours were still escaping from a
crevasse in one of them. Acatenango is separated by a deep ravine from the
southern group, which includes the vast but jjartly breached Meseta cone.
Beyond it follows Fuego (13,200 feet), whose summit, scaled for the first time
by Schneider and Beschor in I8G0, terminates in a narrow bowl about 85 feet
deep ; immediately to the south is scan a tremendous chasm, nearly perfectlj'
roimd, over 4-30 yards in diameter and no less than 2,000 feet deep. Fuego was
in full eruption at the time of the Spanish invasion, and the terror it inspired
in the natives seemed to show that they had previous experience of its destructive
energy. Since that time explosions have been frequent, and the surrounding
districts have often been laid under ashes.

Agua, which corresponds to Fuego on the other side of the valley, although
not quite so lofty (12,360 feet), presents a more majestic appearance due to its
completely isolated position. Seen from Escuintla, near its southern base, it
seemed " the most lovely sight in the world " to DoUfus and Mout-Serrat, by
whom it has been scaled. The gaze here follows the perfect curve of its escarp-
ments unbroken by any disturbing prominence, while the vegetable zones —
cultivated ground, leaf}- forests and pine groves — follow with their varying tints
one above the other along its regular slopes. Despite repeated assertions to the
contrary, Agua has never been in eruption since the epoch of the conquest. The
catastrophe to which it owes its name was caused by the bursting of the rim of
the crater, which was flooded by a terminal tarn at the summit of the mountain.
To reach this point travellers usually pass through the breach, and here some
idea may be formed of the liquid mass formerly contained in the -basin suspended
thousands of feet above the plains. Assuming that the reservoir, about 230 feet
deep, was entirelj^ filled, it would have been nearlj^ a third of a mile in circum-
ference at its upper rim, and 760 feet round at the bottom ; consequently, its
volume could not have been much more than 35,000,000 cubic feet. But when
the side of the crater gave way on the disastrous day in 1541, the aperture
occurred immediately above the capital, which the Spanish conquerors had just
founded on the site of the present Ciudad Yieja. The avalanche of water rushed
down the mountain, tearing up the ground, sweeping rocks and trees along its
irresistible course, and bur}'ing the city beneath heaps of mud and debris.

Agua is separated by the deep valley of the Rio Michatoya from the Pacaya,
a group of igneous peaks so named from a species of palm growing at its base
and producing edible flowers. A near view of Pacaj'a reveals a cluster of
irregular summits, where the supreme cone seems to have disappeared during
some prehistoric convulsion. The loftiest cone, which is still active, rises to a
height of 8,400 feet, or some 3,000 feet above the surrounding plateau. Close
by is a wooded peak, and both of these crests are enclosed within the breached

PHYSICAL FEATURES OF OUATEMATiA.

marffin of an enormous crater some miles in circumference. Ou a neisrlibourinsr
terrace also stand two otlier orators, one of which, the Caldcvu, or "Cauldron," of
the natives, contains a lake of pure water, while from tlic other light vapours
are still emitted. According to a local tradition the smoking peak of Pacaya was

the scene of an eruption in 1565, and since that time it has never ceased to eject
ashes, vapours, and even lavas.

None of the other volcanoes in the eastern part of Guatemala have been
disturbed in recent times. Two of these lie a short distance east of Pacaj a at

p 2

212

MEXICO, f'EXTRAI. AMERir'A, WEST INDIES.

the villnge of Cerro Itedondo, or "Round Hill," which takes its name from one
of the cones. Farther on another is mentioned by travellers, beyond which the
normal igneous chain is cut at right angles by a transverse fissure which extends
for over 60 miles towards the north-east. It begins near the coast, where the
Moyuta or JMoj'utla peak rises far to the south of the main axis, and it is con-
tinued on the opposite o.r north side by Am:ij-o, Cuma or Columa, Santa Catarina,
or Suchite])ec and Ipala, loftiest pe ik of this transverse range (5,4(35 feet).

Ipali terminates in a flooded crater,

Fig. 91.- Pacaya Volcano.
Seile 1 : 130,000.

and on one of its flanks is rooted
another igneous cone called Mount
Rico. The Guatemalan igneous
system terminates near the frontier,
where the perfectly symmetrical
cone of Chiugo rises to a height of
over 6,600 feet above the prolonga-
tion of the main range. Chingo is
said to be extinct, although DoDfus
and Mont-Serrat fancied they saw
some vapours escaping from its
summit.

North of the Guatemalan plateau
the regions carved by the run-
ning waters into nuraei'ous separate
masses present a chaotic appearance
in many places, especially towards
the diverging sources of the Motagua
and Usumacinta rivers. Here the
highlands form a central nucleus
whence radiate several elevated
chains. The loftiest of these sierras
is probably the Altos Cuchuinatanes,
which runs north of Huehuetenango
towards Tabasco ; it is also known
as the Sierra Madre, although it is
separated from the other Guatemalan
ranges by the deep valley of the
Usumacinta. East of this copious
stream the ranges are disposed mostly west and east, and gradually diminish
in altitude in the same direction. Taken as a whole, this northern region of
Guatemala draining to the Atlantic, and limited southwards by the lofty
rampart of the main range, may be compared to a stormy sea breaking into
parallel billows. One of these great billows, consisting of mica schists, runs
north and parallel to the Motagua under the name of Sierra de las Miuas, so desig-
nated from its auriferous deposits. Farther east, where it is known as the Sierra

. Si Miles.

RTTEKS OF GUATEMALA. 213

del Mico, or " Monkey Range," it reaches the coast between the Eio Golfete and
St. Thomas's Bay, where it terminates in the Cerro de San Gil, a conic mountain
said by the natives to be a volcano. At the point where it is crossed by the main
route, about 60 miles from its eastern extremity, the Minas Range is about 3,000
feet high. The ridge running north of the Rio Polochic takes the nama of Sierra
Cahabon in the pro\-ince of Alta Vera Paz. Towards its eastern extremity the
Sierra de Santa Cruz, as it is here called, develops the headland which separates
the Rio Golfete from Amatique Bay.

In the north of Guatemala the last great chain is the Charaa, which trends
north-eastwards round the sources of the Rio de la Pasion. Towards the east it is
connected by a few low ridges with the Cockscomb Mountains in Briti-sh Honduras.
The passes over this sierra, which have been traversed by few explorers, are
extremelv rugged and ditEcult, not so much because of their elevation as of the
vertical disposition of the rocky crests. North of the Sierra de Chama stretch the
savannas, which are continued northwards in the direction of Yucatan. But
these plains are dotted over with isolated hills, for the most part wooded, rising
like verdant islands in the midst of a verdant sea.

Speaking generally, the southern and central parts of Guatemala are almost
entirely covered with pumice in the form of tufa. The granites, mica schists and
porphyries are only seen here and there, on the more elevated parts of the plateaux
and mountains, or in the depressions eroded by running waters. The quantity
of pumice ejected by the volcanoes was prodigious, the deposits accumulated in
every part of the country having a thickness of loO and even 200 yards. There
exists scarcely a single valley which has not been partly filled in, or a plateau that
has not been levelled by these deposits.

On the masses of pumice lies a layer of yellowish clay, with a mean thickness
of twelve or fifteen feet, which has probably been formed by the surface decomposi-
tion of the uuderl\-ing rocks. It is in these clays and in the pumice immediately
below them that are found from time to time the remains of mastodons and of
Elephas Culombi, animals which lived during quaternary times. Hence this was
the epoch during which occm-red the prodigious eruptions of the Guatemalan
volcanoes.

EivKHs AM) Lakes.

The rainfall is sufficiently abundant in Guatemala to feel a considerable
number of watercourses. But rivers in the strict sense of the term could scarcely
be developed except on the Atlantic slope, where the disposition of the land and its
gradual incline afforded space for the running waters to ramify in extensive fluvial
systems. On the Pacific side, where the escarpments of the plateaux fall abruptly
seawards, the torrents descend rapidly through the parallel ravines furrowing the
flanks of the mountains. Almost waterless during the dry season, but very cojiious
in winter, these streams for the most part discharge into the coast lagoons. In
fact, they do not communicate at once with the sea, from which they are separated
by sandy strips several miles long, and the seaward channels themselves are often

214 MliXlCO, CENTEAL AMERICA, WEST INDIES.

sliifted by the tides and tempests. One of the largest streams on the Pacific side
is the Suchiate, which forms the common frontier between Guatemahi and Mexico.
A still more extensive basin is that of the Siimala, which flows from the Quezal-
tenango and Totonicapam heights. The Iztacapa is a smaller river, although it
receives the overflow of ]j ike Atitlan, not through a surface stream, but through
underground flltrations across the scoriae covering the plain of San Lucas, on the
southern bank. Lake Atitlan itself, which has an area of 6-5 square miles,
develops an irregular crescent at an altitude of 5,140 feet, round the spurs of the
Atitlan volcano, which rises on its southern margin, and which cre.ited the lake by
damming up the fluvial vallej's. The waters thus jjent up by the accumulating beds
of ashes and lavas gradually filled the vast Atitlan basin, which is said to have a
depth of over 1,650 feet. The water, being continually renewed, thanks to the
subterranean outflow, is perfectly fresh and limpid.

Farther e;.-it the sm lUer Lake Amatitlan has been forme 1 under analogous
conditions at an altitude of 4,000 feet. Here the waters have been graduall}^
dammed up by the lavas and scoriae deposited by the Pacaya volcjno on the south
side of the lake. Formerly its busin was oven far more extensive than at present,
and traces of its old level are still distinctl}^ visible at distances of several miles
from the present margin. The water of Amatitlan, which exceeds 200 fathoms in
depth, is as fresh a-3, but less pure than, that of Atitlan, and along the margin its
temperature is raised by thermal springs. Nearly two hundred years ago .Thomas
Gage ?poke of it as " somewhat brackish," adding that sdt was collected on irs
shores. Such is no longer the case, its flavour being in no way affected by the
slightly purgative salts of soda and magnesia which it contains in solution, though,
they give rise to a strong odour during the dry season. It is probably fed by
underground affluents, the few surface streams draiuinar to the basin being
insufficient to create an emissary. The overflow is discharged south-eastwards to
the Michato\'a, or " Fidi River," which escapes from the plateau through a deep
gorge 600 or 700 feet below an escarpment of the Pacaya volcano. Farther on
the affluent has a clear fall of 200 feet near San Pedro Martir, beyond which
point it; loses itself in the coast lagoon? a little to the east of the port of San Jose.

Amatitlan lies about midway between Atitlan and Ayarza (Ayarcesj, a third
flooded depression at the southern foot of the Mataquezcuintla mountains, which
here rise to a height of over 8,000 feet. But Ayarza already belongs to the San
Salvador hydrographic system, draining through the Ostua t> the fluvial basin of
the Rio Lempa, main ai-tery of the neighbouring state. On the Atlantic slope,
also all the western and northern regions, at least one-half of the whole territory
belongs to the Usumaeinta basin, which throughout its lower course flows through
Sfexican territory'. The largest watercourse entirely comprised within the limits
of Gruatcmala is the Motagua, which, like so many others in Spanish America, is
called also the Rio Grande. It rises in the central mass of the Altos de Totoni-
capam, where its headstrcams are intermingled with those of the Usumacinta.
Farther oast it collects all the tori'ents descending from the main Guatemalan
watcrparting, which in many i)laces is contracted to a narrow ridge furrowed on

EIVEES OF GUATEMALA. 215

both sides by deep ravines. But the Motagua flows, not through one of these
eroded vallej's, but through an older fissure belonging to the original structure of
the land. After its confluence with the copious affluent from the Esquipulas and
Chiquimula, the Motagua becomes navigable for small craft. From this point it
follows a north-easterly course, skirted on both sides by picturesque wooded
heights all the way to its mouth in Honduras Bay. During the floods it is a
broid and deep stream, navigable for over 100 miles in a total length of 300 miles.
But the approach is obstructed by a bar at the mouth of the chief branch in the
delta, which has usually scaixely more than thres feet of water. The other
branches are also inaccessible to vessels of large draught, and the whole of the low-
lying alluvial tract is a region of swamps and backwaters fringed with mangroves,
almost as dangerous to approach from the land as from the sea. So unhealthy is
the district that the inlet enclosed by the long promontorj' of Tres Puntas, pro-
jecting north-west towards Amatique Buy, is called Hospital BaJ^ This inlet
is connected with the main stream by a partly artificial channel ; but the true
port of the fluvial basin lies, not in the delta, but immediately beyond it at the
foot of the last spurs of the Sierra del Mico. Here is St. Thomas's Bay, the best
haven along the whole Atlantic seaboard of Central America. After rounding
a dangerous sandbank large vessels penetrate through a narrow channel into a
circular basin enclosed by an amphitheatre of wooded hills. Here is ample space
for hundreds of ships in a perfectly sheltered sheet of water with a superficial area
of six square miles and depths ranging from 14 to 30 feet.

Like that of Motagua, the Polochic basin is entirelj' comprised within
Guatemalan territory. Although a smaller stream, it is navigable by flat-
bottomed boats for about an equal distance from its mouth. Rising in the Cohan
mountains, which here form the divide towards the Usumacinta valley, the
Polochic flows almost due east to its junction with the Cahabon, which descends
from the Sierra de Chama to its left bank below Teleman. Like the Motagua it
ramifies through several arms at, its mouth, where numerous shoals bar all access
except to light flat-bottomed craft. The delta, however, lies not on the Atlantic,
but on an inland sea known as the Golfo Dulce or Izabal Lagoon. This "golfo "
certainly appears to be a lacustrine basin rather than a marine inlet, for it
has not the slightest trace of salt, and during the floods its level rises about 40
inches. It has a mean depth of from 35 to 40 feet, and as it has an area of
over '2o0 miles, it might easily accommodate all the navies of the world but for
the shallow channel through which it communicates with the sea.

Towards its north-east extremity the current, elsewhere imperceptible, begins
to be felt ; its banks, here low and swampy, gradually converge, and the Golfo
Dulce becomes the Rio Dulce, whose depth falls in some places to ten or twelve
feet. Lower down the water grows more and more brackish, and the Rio Dulce
enters another basin, whose saline properties betray its marine origin. Below the
Golfete or " Little Gulf," as this basin is called, the banks again grow higher,
developing cliffs and escarpments, where the lianas, twining round the branches of
great forest trees, fall in festoons down to the stream. During ebb-tide the water

21 G

MEXICO, CENTRAL AMERICA, WEST INDIES.

flows in :i swift current seawards through a rocky gorge about 600 feet deep,
but with scareeh- six feet at the bar. From this bar to the Polochic delta there
is a clear waterway of about GO miles navigable by schooners.

North of the Golfo Dulce and its sti-aits the only important river is the
Sar.stun, whose lower course has been chosen as the frontier towards British
Honduras. Farther north the quadrilateral space comprised between Tabasco,
Yucatan and Belize is drained partly by the Usumxcinti, and partly by the Bios
Mopnn and Hondo, leaving only a few lakes dotted over the northern savannas
with no outflow. The largest of these is Lake Itzal, so named from the Itzas, a
Yucatan nation which took refuge on its shores in the fifteenth century. It is

Fig. 02. — Golfo Dulce and the Lowek JIoiAGri

Scale I : l,7r'0 '"^"l.

iJepLQS.

10 to .iO
Fathoms.

50 Fatlioms
and upwards,

CO .Miles.

also called Peten, or the " Island," from an isolated hill where the immigrants
founded their first settlement. Peten has the form of an irregular crescent, with its
convex side facing north-westwards, and is divided into two basins by a peninsula
projecting from its south side. Enclosed between low limestone banks, the lake
rises several yards during the rains, while in some places it has a normal depth
of over 180 feet. Some of the creeks, however, are shallow enough to develop a
rich growth of waterlilies, whose seeds in times of scarcity are ground and
kneaded to a sort of bread which is astringent but little nutritive. Peten is at
present a closed basin, but other lacustrine depressions scattered over the savannas
appear to have formerly connected it on one side with the San Pedro affluent of
the Usumacinta, on the other with the Rio Hondo, which flows to Honduras Bay.

GUATEMALA. 217

Climate, Fi.nitA, Faixa.

Tlie distribution of the climates in vertical zones of temperature is far more
clearly marked in the southern parts of Guatemala than in Mexico itself.
The regular ramjDart of mountains which dominate the Guatemalan seaboard
presents almost exactly the same geographical conditions throughout its whole
extent, and here the zones of hot, temperate, and cold lands follow uniformly
from base to summit, each indicated by its special types of vegetation. Above
the cold zone coinciding with the edge of the plateau there is even distinguished
a " frozen zone," that of the higher summits snow-clad for a short period of the
year. This highest zone is uninhabitable, and the same might almost be said of
the lowest, especially for European settlers. Here the mean temperature varies
from 77° to 82° Fahr., while the glass often rises even to 10i°.

The two intermediate temperate and cold zones, the former suitable for the
cultivation of the banana, sugar-cane, and coffee, the latter for cereals and
European fruits, comprise by far the greater part of the Guatemalan territory,
and here the populations of European or mixed origin can be acclimatised. The
temperate zone especially, which lies mainly between the altitudes of 1,600 and
5,000 feet, occupies a collective area of considerable extent. In other words
Guatemala is_, relativelj' speaking, far more favourably situated than Mexico for
the cultivation of economic plants. Its ch;iracteristic growth is the banana, the
alimentary plant in a pie- eminent sense, which here flourishes throughout the
whole of the temperate zone.

Lying, like Mexico, within the range of the trade winds, Guatemala is
exposed especially to the north-east currents, which pass between the cones
of the volcanoes down to the Pacific seaboard. But these regular currents are
frequentlj' deflected from their normal course, and then the fierce iioiies sweep
from the uplands down to the low-lj'ing valleys.

The rainfall is verj' unevenly distributed over the different regions of
Guatemala. The Atlantic slope is natural!}' the most abundantly watered, the
prevailing wind being charged with the vapours from the Gulf of Mexico and
Caribbean Sea. " It rains thirteen months in the year," say the inhabitants of
Izabal. But the Pacific seaboard has also its share of humidity, and here the
temperate lands more especially receive copious downpours. Here the wet season
lasts .six or even seven months, with a short interrui^tion in the month of August,
due to the fact that the cortege of clouds has followed the sun farther north
towards the Tropic of Cancer. Even during the dry season few months pass
without some rain, the effect of which on the growth of vegetation is magical on
these rich volcanic lands. Fogs also are by no means rare at this period, and
contribute to support plant life. The mean rainfall has been recorded only for
the capital, where it amounts to 54 inches On the lower slopes of the temperate
zone it certainly exceeds SO inches, while on the Quezaltenango Altos it must fall
short of 20 inches.

In its natural history Guatemala resembles the conterminous j)rovinces of

218 MEXICO, CEXTRAI. AMERICA, WEST INDIES.

East Mexico — Chiapas, Tabasco, and Yucatan. In its forests are intcrnjingled
various species of oaks and conifers, some of the latter growing to a heiglit of
loO or 160 feet. In many regions the traveller might fancy himself transported
to the pine-groves of the Landes in Gascony, or else to the Pomeranian woodlands.
On the low-lying Pacific seaboard the bamboo grows in dense thickets to a height
of 100 feet; these thickets, which wave in the breeze like tall cornfields, are
traversed by narrow, gloomy galleries made by wild beasts.

As in Tabasco the giant of the Guatemalan forests is the ceiha, or pyramidal
bombax. In the neighbourhood of their settlements the Indians of the plateaux
and escarpments generally clear a large space round the ceiba to give it ample
room for the development of its wide-spreading branches and rear its majestic
form more imposingly above the throng of worshippers at its feet. As in south
Mexico the whole surface of the forest is interwoven with the coils of lianas
gliding snake-like from tree to tree.

In Vera Paz the enclosures are often formed by a species of arborescent
thistle, which grows rapidly and interlaces its stems so as to form a compact
greyish wall carpeted with mosses and ferns intermingled with the large foliage
of the plant. The forests of the hot zones near Katalhulen, as well as those of
the Polochic, have become famous for their magnificent orchids. Another
remarkable Guatemalan jilant is well known to the Indians for the heat emitted
by its efflorescence at the moment of fertilisation. Hence its rame of Jior de la
cakiitura ("fever flower") given to it by the Spaniards.

The tapir, peccary, and a few other mammals inhabit the Guatemalan forests,
where, however, no special forms have been discovered except amongst the lower
orders of animals. The alligator and some thirty species of fishes in Lake Peten
were unknown before Morelet's expedition. Here also has been found a species
of trigonocephalus, which completes the smes of these dangerous snakes between
South Carolina and Guiana.

Vera Paz is the earthlj' paradise of ornithologists ; here is still met the
wonderful qiiezal, or " resplendent couroucou " [trogon. 2>nroriiin.<<, pliaromacnm
paradmeus), a member of the gallinaceous faniil}', with an emerald-green silky
plumage dashed with a golden lustre above, with a lovely purple hue below, and
a tail fully three feet long. The Guatemalan republic has chosen this bird as the
national emblem.

Imiaiutants.

The common Guatcmalo-Mexican frontier traverses regions whose populations
on both sides have the same origin and speak the same languages. Thus the Ma j'as
of Yucatan are found also in the Peten district ; east and west of the Usuraacinta
the Lacandons have their camping grounds ; Chols, Tzendals, and Mames occupy
the heights and slopes both of the Guatemalan Altos and of Soconusco. But
central and east Guatemala are inhabited by ethnical groups distinct from thcis3
of the Mexican republic. Various attempts iiave been made to classify these
heterogeneous populations according to tlicir afhuities, usages, and languages ; but

IXHABITANTS OF GUATEMAL-V.

219

the work begun by Erinton, Stoll, and others is still far from complete, and
meantime the tribes are dis;ippearing, and several languages spoken down to the
present century are now extinct. East of the meridian of Lake Amatitlan, nearly

Kg. 93 — Landscape nc Socth Guatemala— Bameoo Jungle.

^J^«fi* ! !s"*^«=^ *2S=^^

all the Indians have already become Ladinos, and no longer speak their priiniiive
tongues. Nererthele-'ss, according to Stoll, as many as eighteen native languages
were still current within the limits of the republic in 1883.

The Aztecs, the dominant indigtnous element in .Anahuac. are represented in

220 IIEXICO, CENTRAL AMERICA, WEST INDIES.

Guatemala only by the single grouiD of the Pipils, -who dwell, not in the neigh-
bourhood of the Mexican frontier as might have been supposed, but in the eastern
provinces near others of the same race, settled in Salvador. At the time of the
conquest the Pij^ils occupied a far more extensive territory than at present. But
their domain has been gradually encroached upon, not only by Spanish, but also
by the spread of other native- tongues, such as the Cakchiquel and Pokoman. At
present the Pipil forms two separate enclaves, one at Salaraa and on both banks
of the Motagiia (Rio Grande), the other at Escuintla and Cuajiniquilapa in the
Guacalate and Michatoya basins.

Some historians regard the Pijnls as a branch of the fugitive Toltecs who
migrated southwards after the overthrow of their dominion by the Chichitnecs, and
it is probable enough that such a migration may have taken place at some remote
epoch. Juarros tells us that Pipil means " Children," and that the people were so
called by the Mexicans because they were unable to speak the Nahuatl language
correctly. But according to another interpretation the Pipils of Guatemala and
of the other Central American republics represent the ancient Pipiltins, that is,
the " superior " or " better," the nobler branch of the Aztec family. This name
they are supposed to have themselves assumed when they settled amongst the less
civilised populations south of Mexico.

The great majority of the Guatemalan Indians belong to the same .stock as that
of the Huaxtecs in the Vera Cruz uplands, and of the Mayas dominant in Yucatan.
All the populations speaking various forms of the common language are collectively
called Maya-Quiche, from the two most important members of the group, the
Mayas of the Yucatan plains and the Quiches of the Guatemalan plateaux.
Within the limits of the latter state the Mayas, properly so-culled, occupy an
extensive territory, comprising the Petcn district and nearly the whole region
bounded southwards by the Pasion and Mopan rivers. In this region the Maj'a
nation is represented by the Itzas, one of the very purest members of the family.
Thanks to their isolation in the petcii, or " island," of the great steppe lake, the
Itzas were long able to preserve both their political independence and the puritj' of
their race and national usages. The Lacandons, who dwell farther west, between
Lake Peten and the Usumacinta river, are also a pure IMaya people, although
frequently called " Caribs " by the Spaniards and even by the Mayas themselves.
Like the Itzas, they have maintained their independence, and although admitting
strangers into their country, they yield obedience to no one, and still regard them-
selves as masters of the land. However, they are but a small group, scarcely
numbering more than 4,000 or 5,000, according to the estimate of travellers who
have visited them. They are described as an anicniic people, "flabby and soft,"
which should perhajjs be attributed to their mode of life passed entirely in the
humid atmosphere of dense forests.

The Mopans, who are met in scattered groups south of Lake Peten and in the
upper valley of the Rio Mopan (Belize river), are also independent Mayas,
although their language is said to differ from that of the Itzas and Lacandons.
Their southern neighbours, the Chols, that is, " Men," who roam the steppe

INHABITANTS OF GUATEMALA. 221

between tlio Usumacinta and the Golfo Dulce, belong to the same widespread Maya
family. They were met on his expedition to Honduras by Fernan Cortes, who
was able to converse with them through Dona Marina, she being acquainted ^^ ith
the Chontal dialect. The Chols appear to have been one of the most civilised
nations in the region now known as Guatemala, for in their territory are situated
the fine ruins of Quirigua. But they are greatly reduced in numbers, and both
people and language seem to be dying out.

Owing to the former slave-raiding expeditions of the Spaniards, the whole
Atlantic seaboard, from Yucatan to Xicaragua, is almost entirely destitute of a
native Indian population. After the extermination of the Espanola and Cuban
natives, and before their places could be supplied by negroes imported from Africa,
the planters of those islands sought to recruit their gangs by introducing " Caribs,"
that is, Indians of all races, whether in the islands or on the mainland. These
so-called Caribs were accused of cannibalism and of every other crime under the
sun, and could consequently be enslaved with a free conscience. Man-hunting
expeditions were im^dertaken, especially along the coast between Capes Catoche and
Gracias-a-Dios ; these lands were completely depopulated in a very few decades,
and when no more victims remained, the raiders had to ascend the rivers and lay
waste their valleys in search of fresh captives. It is evident from Bemal Diaz'
descriptions that at the time of Cortes' expedition to Honduras the shores of the
Golfo Dulce were, in many places, lined with settlements and plantations.

South of the Choi camping-grounds, which are still met in the upper valley of
the Rio de la Pasion, the district about the headwaters of the Polochic is occupied
by the Quekchi and Pokonchi, who form a special branch of the Maya family.
Their territory was formerly known by the name of Teztdutlau, that is, " Land of
War," because the Spaniards made frequent expeditions against the natives ;
without, however, succeeding in reducing them. Their submission was, in fact,
brought about by the celebrated Bishop of Chiapas, Bartholomew de las Casas,
and the Dominican missionaries who soon acquired unlimited power over the
people. Then the territory changed its name from " Land of War " to Vera Paz,
"True Peace." But although they thus became the voluntary serfs of the Domi-
nican friars, the Quekchi and Pokonchi were, after all, but outward converts, and
their usages still recall those of pagan times.

One of the chief indigenous nations is that of the Pokomans, in whose territory
the present capital of the state has been founded. They are also one of the best-
known Guatemalan tribes, for the Indians of the large settlement of Mixco, who
suj)ply the capital with fuel and provisions, are all Pokomans. They are of Maya
stock, and display the same remarkable power of passive resistance and tenacity
as other branches of that race. They have gradually encroached on the Pipil
domain, dividing that nation into two separate section; by conquering the region
of the main Guatemalan waterparting.

The (iuiches were, with the Aztecs and the Mayas, the most cultured inhabi-
tants of Central America at the time of the conquest. At that epoch they were
also a very numerous nation, the chronicles speaking of " several millions." They

222 MEXICO, CENTRAL AMERICA, WEST INDIES.

are now greatl}' reduced, though still occupying nearly the same territory as
when Alvarado first attempted to subdue them. In certain districts, notably in
that of Totonicapam, they still energetically resist tbe intrusion of the Spanish
tongue, which, how3ver, as the officiil language, c:innot fail, sooner or later, to
prevail in the towns, if not in the rural districts. The Quiche linguistic domain
comprises especially the region of the Quezaltenango and Totonicupam Altos;
but it also extends north and north east towards the upper Usuinacinta and
Motao-ua basins, while southwards it re iches the sea along the Pacitic slope of the
main range. For over sixty miles it holds the seaboard south of Rstalulheu and
Mazatenango. Quiche, the language of the old rulers of the land, is one of the
few American idioms which possess, if not a literature, at least some original
documents. The Popol- Vuh, or " Book of History," written by an unknown
native soon after the conquest, to replace another national history which had been
lost, possesses great value for the study of Central American myths and legends.
It was translated into Spanish at the beginning of the eighteenth century by the
Dominican friar, Xiraeues, and afterwards edited, with a French translation, by
Brasseur de Bourbourg.

Cakchiquel, which is spoken on the plateau from Solola to Chimaltenango and
Antigua, that is, in the zone comprised between the Quiche and Pokoraan domains,
is, like Quiche, also a literary language. Brasseur do Bourbourg has described a
document containing the history of the Cakchiquel nation from the creation of
the world, and in several passages harmonising with the Popol- Yah. Cakchiquel,
Quiche, and Tzutujil, whieh last is spoken in a small enclave south of Lake Atit-
lan, are described by Spanish grammarians as the " three metropolitan languages,"
because each was at one time a court idiom current in a royal residence. All
closeh' resemble each other, while the Mem, or Mame, differs greatly from Quiche,
although also belonging to the same linguistic stock. This language of " Stam-
merers," as it was called by the Quiches and Cakchiquels, because of the difhculty
they had in understanding it, prevails throughout all the western districts of
Huehuetenango and San Marcos, as well as in the Mexican provinces of Soconusco
and Chiapas; it forms a distinct group with Ixil, Aguacatan, and perhaps some
other dialects spoken by the little-known tribes of the upper Usumacinta basin.

Nearly all the native languages current within the limits of Guatemala belong
to the Maya stock. Besides those already mentioned, almost the only other
exception is the Carib, which still survives amongst the fishers a>\d woodmen, who
are descended from the West Indian Caribs removed by the English to the main-
land at the close of the last century. Stoll has endeavoured to draw up a
genealogical tree of the Maya languages, which is intended to show the order of
succession in which the various members branched off from the parent stem. The
Huaxtecan of Vera Cruz would appear to have become first detached, and it has
diverged all the more that to the modifications introduced by time have been
added those derived from a totally different environment surrounded by popula-
tions of totallj^ distinct speech and usages. Then the pircntstem split into the
two great Jfaya and (Juiche divisions, the former subsequently throwing off the

INIIARITANTS OP OUATEMALA. 223

Mexican branches (Tzcndul, Tzotzil and Choi), while Quiche ramified into the
various Guatemalan subdivisions of Pokoman, Pokouchi, Cakchiquel and modern
Quiche with Ixil and Mame.

The pure Indians, who constitute over two- thirds of the whole population,
differ little in their physical appearance, to whatever linguistic group thej- may
belong. The Cakchiquels, who may be taken as typical Guatemalan Indians, are
of average or low stature, but stoutly built, with clear eye, prominent cheekbones,
large nose, firm mouth, black, lank hair, thick eyebrows, low forehead, somewhat
depressed by the strap passed round the head to support their loads. They never
grow grey, and preserve to old age their well-set dazzling white teeth and muscular
frames, which never put on too much flesh. They are indefatigable walkers, and
the women may be daily seen trudging to market, doing their three and a half
miles an hour under loads of 90 to 110 pounds, with the baby perched on the hip.
The Guatemalan Indians are much addicted to the practice of eating an edible
earth of volcanic origin, of a j^ellowish-grey colour and strong smell, which is
taken as an accompaniment or appetiser. Reference is alrec;"dy made to this habit
in the Popol- Vuh. Christians going on pilgrimages also eat little earthen figures,
which they obtain at the holy shrines, and which are supposed to heal all mala-
dies. Gage was acquainted with two Creole ladies, who ate " handfuls of earth "
to brighten the countenance. The natives age rapidly, doubtless owing to their
extremely monotonous existence, unrelieved by any incidents which might stimu-
late curiosity or afford food for reflection. After the age of thirty they have
passed through all their experiences, and nothing further rt mains to be learned.

Musical gatherings are greatly enjoyed ; the least pretext, such as the death
of a child, which has become an angel in heaven, serves to get up festivities, to
which everybody is invited. The natives, and especially the Mayas of Peten, have
a delicate ear for music, and in this respect are said to be supe rior to the Spaniards.
The Itzas sing in perfect tune, and even vary their parts with much originality ;
according to Morelet their songs are lively and bright, very different from the
plaintive melody of the Ladinos. The same traveller believed in the native origin
of several musical instruments, such as the c/iiriiiu'i/a, somewhat like a clarionet,
and the marimba, a series of vertical wooden tubes formed of uneven calabashes,
which are disposed like those of a reed-pipe, pierced at the lower extremity and half
shut by a thin membrane ; its notes are said to be more powerful than those of the
piano. The marimba, however, is not an Indian but an African invention ; it is
widely known in the Niger and Congo basins and as far south as Kaffraria. Its
name is of liantu origin, and it was doubtless introduced into Central America by
the African slaves.

Although more fervent Catholics than the Ladinos, the Indians have none the
less preserved the old religion under a new form. In many places dolls repre-
senting the gods of their forefathers are hidden under the altars of the churches,
and by this device both divinities are simultaneously worshipped. When kneeling
before Saint Michael they light two tapers, one for the dragon, the other for the
archangel. An old deity corresponds to each personage of the Christian religion,

224

MEXICO, CENTRAL AMERICA, WEST INDIES.

the suu to God the Father, the moon to the Madonna, the stars to the tutelar
saints. Most of the Indians think there are two gods, one of whom, the D/o-v de
la Monttthd, " God of the Forest," attends specially to the aborigines, taking no
notice either of the Ladinos or of the whites. He is often called Diuho dd Palo,
" Lord of the Tree," because he dwells in the ceibas, and to the foot of these
gigantic trees in the forest clearings are brought the firstfruits of the harvest

Fig. 94. — Natite Populations op Gxiatemala.
Scale 1 : 4,500,000.

9P'

West oF Greenwict-

CO Miles.

and the chase. The earth also is wor.shipped, but feared as representing the prin-
ciple of evil.

In every village the natives are grouped in coiifradiux, or " brotherhoods,"
which are evidently organised on the model of the old Aztec calpuUL Each has
its tutelar saint, who is feted with much pomp, the male and female " captains "
collecting the money required for the costumes, mu-ic, tajjers and decorations.
Sometimes this costly worship plunges the whole community into debt for months
together, but the saint is only all the more highly esteemed.

Mimetic dances represent mv-thological or historical dramas of Indian origin,

TOPOGRAPHT OF GUATEilALA. 225

but since the arrival of the Spaniards more or less modified by tne addition of new
legends. Thus in the " Moors' dance " the chief personages are Charlemagne and
Tamerlane. There are also the " negroes' ball," and even the " dance of the
conquest," the performers on these occasions -wearing wooden masks and fantastic
garbs of leaves or herbage, and exciting themselves to a pitch of frenzy. Such
is the passion and fury of these Bacchanalian dancers that one easily realises the
ancient religious ceremonies, when the devotees fell on the palpitating bodies of
the victims and devoured their flesh.

Conscious of the strength derived from numbers, and even miadful of the evils
brought on them by servitude, the Indians have kept aloof from the Ladinos, and
have often taken advantage of the local revolutions to rise i:i revolt against their
oppressors. In 1838, an Indian army, under Eafael Carrera, penetrated victoriously
into the capital, proclaiming that they had been " raised up by the Virgin Mary
to kill the whites, foreigners and heretics." But in their very triumphs they had to
feel the ascendency of the more civilised Ladinos, with whom they are brought
yearly more and more into contact. As the term "white" is sometimes applied
to the Ladinos, who are all of mixed origiu, many of the rural populations are in
the same way regarded as pure Indians though they also have a strain of foreign
blood. On the plantations crossings continually take place between the ruling class
and their serfs, and the black slaves originally introduced by the Dominican friars
to cultivate their lands have also contributed to this mixture of races. Pure
negroes can scarcely any longer be found in Guatemala, although their metre or
less modified features may be recognised in whole pomdations.

Topography.

The Guatemalan population is grouped chiefly in the cold and temperate lands
of the Pacific coast range. All towns of any importance are situated on the high
grounds between the coastlands and the upper Motagua and Usumacinta valleys.
Near the Mexican frontier the first town on the plateau is San Marcos, which lies
in the cold zone on an eminence whence is commanded a wide prospect of the sur-
rounding coffee plantations. On a neighbouring plain stands the native town of
Sail Pedro Sacalepeqncs, whose inhabitants no longer speak Mame, the old language
of West Guatemala. By a recent decree they have been declared Ladinos, which
has the consequence of allowing them more freedom in the administration of their
local affairs. The natural outlet of San Marcos and its plantations is the Ocas
estuary some 50 miles towards the south-west. On this part of the coast the plains
are vast low-lying savannas, often under water, dotted over with permanent
lagoons and forest tracts. In April the traders and planters from Soconusco, in
Z^Iexico, and from west Guatemala assemble at this place for the transaction of
business. The Ocos estuary was Ions resarded as the frontier between Mexico
and Guatemala. West of the port, which is open to foreign trade, the frontier
station has been fixed at the village of Ayuila, a place of pilgrimage much fre-
quented by the Soconusco Indians.

VOL. XVII. Q

22G

MEXICO, CENTRAL AMERICA, WEST INDIES-

About 30 miles south-east of Siin Marcos, Quezaltenanrjo, second capital of tlie
republic and chief town of the Altos, occupies an extensive space, 7,740 feet above
the sea, on a hilly plateau south of which rises the still smoking Cerro Quemado.
In 1838 this place was the capital of a state which comprised the three eastern
provinces of Totonicapara, Quezaltenango, and Solola. The houses are built of
lava blocks quarried at the foot of the volcano. The small industries are repre-
sented by woollen and cotton weavers, dyers and leather-dressers. A speciality
of the Quiche artisans is the preparation of gold-embroidered mantles, feather hats
and the masks used by the natives in their dances, processions, and scenic per-

Fig. 95. — The Axtos Region.

Scale 1 : 1,100,000.

•-^ -^^J- ~h>^' Jf^

.^f-J,-^ -I/rf^ ,Sf» ,p,

9r50' ' V e-it oh Greenwich

. 18 Miles.

formancos Probably from this feather industry the city took its Mexican name of
Quezaltenango, which means " Green-Feather Town," not, as is often asserted,
" Town of the Quezal Birds," a species which is not found in the district. In the
capital of the Altos region reside most of the great landowners, whoso estates
cover the Costa Guca slopes facing the P.icific ; here also dwell the traders and the
moneylenders, who are the real masters of the land.

They prefer this salubrious place to Rctalhuku, which, although lying much
nearer to tbe zone of plantations, is one of the most unhealthy towns in Guatemala.
Eetalhulcu, that is, the " Signal," stands at an elevation of not more than 1,360
feet, that is, in the very heart of the hot lands under a climate with a mean tem-
perature of 82° to 84*^ Fahr. It is a very ancient market, probably founded by the
Quiche kings to procure a sufficient supply of cacao and cotton. Cacao, which

TOPOGEAPHY OF GUATEMALA. 227

was formerly the chief crop, has recently been replaced by coffee and the alimen-
tary plants required by the hands employed on the plantations. Hence the neigh-
bouring port of Champerico, which is connected by rail with Retalhuleu, now exports
little except coffee. Being a hotbed of fever in the rainy season, «Champerieo is
scarcely inhabited except in the dry period, and especially in April and Xo%ember,
when the skippers, nearly all from the United States, come for their cargoes of
coffee.

Totonicapam stands on the same plateau as Quezaltenango, twelve mUes more
to the north-east, but in a colder climate, at an altitude of 8,200 feet, that is, 460
higher than its neighbour and 660 higher than Mexico. Its inhabitants are chiefly
Quiche Indians, who still mostly speak the national language, and who, so far from
considering themselves inferior to the Ladinos, constitute, on the contrary, a sort of
local aristocracy. Many, in fact, descend from the old " caciques " of Tlaxcala who
accompanied Alvarado on his expedition, and who in return for their services
received special class privileges together with exemption from taxation. The best
dwellings in the town belong to these Tlaxcalans. Like the neighbouring capital,
Totonicapam is an industrial centre, producing textiles, earthenware, furniture,
guitars, marimbas, and other musical instruments. Sahraja, a few miles to the
south-west, although now an obscure village, was at one time a place of some note.
It was the first settlement founded by Alvarado in 1524, and its church, dedicated
to the Virgin of Victory, became a famous place of pilgrimage. Afterwards most
of its inhabitants removed to Quezaltenango. Between these two towns flows the
Olintepec brook, called by the natives XiquigU, or " Bloody River," to comme-
morate the day when it flowed with the blood of thousands of Quiches massacred
by Alvarado in the decisive battle which made him master of the land.

Another historic place is Santa Cruz Quiche, or simply Quiche, which still bears
the name of the nation whose capital it was, but which is now almost exclusively
inhabited by Ladinos. It stands at an altitude of 6,220 feet, about 25 miles north-
east of Totonicapam on a plain of the temperate zone watered by the headstreams
of the Rio Grande (Motagua). This plain is enclosed by deep barrancas separat-
ing it from the terraces on which stood the monuments of Utatlnn, residence of the
ancient Quiche kings. Surrounded by precipices over 1,300 feet high on the soiith
side, the terrace of the Acropolis presents a nearly level surface for about a third
of a mile in all directions, and is connected w^th the neighbouring heights by a
precipitous track which was formerly defended by strong fortresses. The palace
of Utatlan, said by the chroniclers to have rivalled that of Montezuma in size,
was spacious enough to contain a whole population of women, servants and
soldiers ; the school contained over 5,000 children educated at the charge of the
sovereign, and when this potentate mustered his forces on the terrace to oppose
the advance of the Spaniards, he is said to have passed in review as many as 72,000
combatants. The pyramid known as the Sacrificatorio still presents a somewhat
regular contour, and preserves the traces of steps. Beyond the citadel, the slopes
of the hiUs, the surrounding heights and plains are strewn for a vas!^ space with the
ruins of edifices now for the most part overgrown with vegetation. The excava-

228 MEXICO, CENTRAL AMERICA, WEST INDIES.

tions made at various times have brought to light statues, bas-reliefs, and much
decorative work. South-eastwards on the verge of the plateau stands the healthy
town of San Toiiins Chichicadenango, which is still inhabited by the descendants
of the ancient Quiche nobility : it was here that the Dominican, Xinienez, made
the lucky find of the Popol-Vuh, or "Book of Myths."

West of Quiche, the chief headstreams of the Motagua intermingle with those
of the Usumacinta, in the department of Huehuetenango, one of the most sparsely
peopled in the republic. IIiiehHctcnango {Guegucfenango), that is, " City of the
Ancients," has also replaced an old Indian town, Zakuica, ov "White Earth,"
which is said to have been the capital of the Mame nation. The modern town
lies in tha temperate zone, and in a fertile district yielding both European aad
tropical fruits, and watered by a stream descending from the north-west to the
Grijalva. In the neighbourhood is the flourishing town of Chiantin, whose
convent, enriched by the offerings of multitudes of pilgrims, was formerly one of
the wealthiest in the New World. Argentiferous lead-mines, now no longer
worked, also contributed to the opulence of the Dominican friars of this district.

On the upper Chixoy, which is the m liu headstream of the Usumacinta, the
only town is the Quiche settlement of Sacapu/as, which crowns an eminence 3,840
feet high, on the right bank, a short distance below the Rio Negro and Rio Blanco
confluence. Immediately below the town numerous thermal springs flow directly
from the granite cliffs, at temperatures varying from 104° to 158° Fahr. They
are both saline and bitter, somewhat like seawater in taste, which is due to the
simultaneous presence of sodium chloride and sulphate of magnesia. Other
springs flowing farther east, although less saline, are more utilised by the natives
in the preparation of salt. The chief salt pan is at present that of Mngdalenci,
about ten miles north-west of Sacapulas, beyond some steep intervening cliffs.
Here two copious streams, one yielding over twenty gallons a second, and contain-
ing four per cent, of pure salt, flow from the foot of a hill, which was formerly
forest- clad, but which, since the opening of the works, has become completely
treeless.

Sulamn, capital of the department of Baja Vera Paz, is also situated in the
upper Usumacinta basin, on an eastern tributary of the Chixoy, 2,865 feet
above sea-level, consequently quite within the tropical zone. San Gcronhno, an
old Dominican establishment a few miles east of Salama, has become the centre
of a flourishing sugar plantation, the produce of which is exported far and wide,
despite the difficult communications. This Vera Paz region, which, for several
years after the arrival of the Spaniards was known as the " Land of War," contains
numerous ruins of large cities, now overgrown with rank vegetation. Purblo
Viejo, or the " Old Town," which stands on the slopes above Sm Geronitno,
occupies the site of the ancient Xtibabal. Rahinal lies farther west on an affluent
of the Chixoy, surrounded by banana, orange, and sugar plantations, in a district
dotted over with numerous old sejiulchral mounds. Northwards are seen the
ruins of a fortress, and about six miles to the north-west the remains of Nim-
Pokom, formerly a capital of the Pokoman nation, and traditionally said to have

TOPOGEAPHY OF GUATEiL\LA.

229

contaiaed 100,000 iuhabitants. The ruius occupy a considerable space on tbe
crest of a hill ; but the Pokoman language has been driven farther east by Quiche,
the idiom of the people who, before the arrival of the Spaniards, had gradually
acquired the political ascendency. Nearly all the summits in the Eabinal
district are crowned with ancient strongholds, now overgrown by a luxuriant
vegetation, while the Pakalah valley, facing the confluence of the Rabinal and
Chixoy rivers, is occupied by the temples, palaces, and citadels of Cahuinal, form-
ing the finest group of ruins in Tera Paz.

The towns situated on the plateaux and heights to the east of Quezaltenango
and Totonicapam, although still standing at a great elevation above the sea, are
not regarded as belonging to the region of the Altos. Solola, which has given

Fig. 96. — Solola axd Lake Atitlax.

-i^^

^ --r^/- ' '

~_^

its name to one of the departments of the republic, lies at an elevation of 7,000
feet on a terrace terminating towards Lake Atitlan in a rocky peak which rises
to a height of nearly 2,000 feet. Two deep ravines on the right and left sides
give to the terrace the aspect of a superb promontory, entirely detached from
the rest of the plateau except on the north side. Beyond the last houses of
Solola is seen the rampart of walls and huge blocks piled up and cemented with
an argillaceous mortar without apparent tenacity. Thus the vast ruin seems as
if about to fall with a crash into the blue lake, which is enclosed on the north by
steep cliffs, on the south by gently-sloping green banks, rising in a succession of
graceful curves towards the Atitlan volcano. A path cut at sharp angles in the
tufas and rocks of the escarpment leads from Solola to the margin of the lake,
and to the village of Paiiajachef, whose name is sometimes extended to the basin

230 MEXICO, CENTRAL AMERICA, WEST INDIES.

itse'f. Solola, ancieut capital of the Cakchiquels, and still iuhabited by the
descendants of these proud and industrious Indians, bears also the name of Tecpan-
Atitlati, or " Communal Palace of Atitlan," in contradistinction to the Afiilan of
the Ladinos. This place lies on the opposite or south side of the lake, and was
formerly capital of the Tzutujil nation, whose language still survives in the
district.

An easy pass, lying between the Atitlan and San Pedro volcanoes, leads down
to the rich plantations of Costa Grande, which cover the lower slopes of the
mountains. But Tecojate, the nearest seaport, being too dangerous for shipping,
the produce is mostly exported through Champerico. A road partly accessible
to wheeled traffic runs from the shores of Lake Atitlan through Mazntenango to
Ectalhuleii. The coffee grown in the Mazatenango district is one of the most
appreciated in the European market.

On the lofty piLite lus separating the basin of Lake Atitlan from that of the
Rio Mofagua are seen the remains of one of the numerous cities which bore the
name of Quauldeinalan, or Guatemala, a name afterwards extended to the whole
region. The city, which was the capital of the Cakchiquels, and which they
called Iximche, has a circumference of " three leagues." It stood on a terrace
encircled on all sides by precipices, and accessible onlj^ by one approach, whose
two gateways were each closed by a single block of obsidian. The Spanish
conqueror Alvarado made it his residence in 152-i, and gave it the name of
Santiago. A second Guatemala, standing on a terrace near the Iximche plateau,
is distinguished by the epithet of Tecpan-Gantcmala, or " Communal Palace of
Guatemala." About eighteen miles farther east, on a terrace overlooking the
Motagua valley, are seen the still more famous ruins of Mixco.

Cliiinaltenango is at present the capital of the department of like name, a region
roughly coinciding with the ancient domain of the Cakchiquels. It stands at a height
of about 6,000 feet exactly on the waterparting between the Atlantic and Pacific
near the northern extremity of the chain of volcanoes which terminates southwards
in the Fuego peak. For trading purposes, it lies in the zone served by the railway
which runs from Guatemala to Escuintla and San Jose. Between Chimaltenango
and Guatemala, but nearer to the latter place, is situated the present Indian
village of Mixco, to which were removed the captives taken at the surrender of the
old city of this name. The first Guatemala of Spanish foundation, which succeeded
the two others of Cakchiquel origin, is the place now known as Ciudad Vieja, or
" Old Town." It was founded in 1527 by Alvarado, in the picturesque Admolonga
valley on the banks of the Rio Pensativo, which flows through the Guacalate to
the Pacific. It would have been difficult to choose a more delightful situation
with a more equable and milder climate, a more fertile and better-watered soil,
or more romantic scenery, than this upland valley between the Fuego and Agua
volcanoes. Yet the city lasted only seventeen years. In 1541, after long rains,
the edge of the flooded crater of Mount Agua, dominating the rising town, suddenly
gave way, and nearly all the inhabitants, amongst whom was Alvarado's wife, Dona
Bcatriz Sin Ventura, the "Hapless," were either drowned or crushed beneath the

TOPOGEAi^liY OF GUATE.MALA.

281

ruins. Nothing remained except a magnificent tree, under whose shade the
Spaniards had assembled before the building of the city. Ilts site is at present
occupied by a few little houses lost amid the surrounding plantations. To avoid
another such disaster — which, however, could not have been repeated in the same
■way — it was decided to remove the town farther north, and in 1542 Alvarado
supervised the foundation of a second capital — Santiago de hs Caballeros la Nueva,
the " new," but now called Antigua, the " ancient," to distinguish it from the
modern Guatemala. The city flourished to such an extent that in a few j^ears it
became the most populous place in Central America, and this despite a succession.

Fig. 97. — SircCESsrTE Dispiacesients of Guateiuxa.

Scale 1 : 750,000-

k-:: ,

3 0"-

'%^&^

t'#;^;^.-^"

v5i^^''«?

91°

90'-ir)-

WcsloFGr

12 Miles.

of storms, floods, earthquakes, and epidemic*. Its inhabitants, remarked Gage,
dwell between " two mountains which hold their ruin in suspense : the Agua
volcano threatens them with the deluge, and Fuego opens to them one of hell's
gates." The people had many a time made every preparation for flight, and
then, the danger over, had done nothing but repair their dwellings, when nearly
all the buildings were overthrown by the terrific earthquakes of 1773.

At last it was decided to select a third site for the capital, and choice was
made of the hamlet of Ermita on the elevated Las Vacas plateau, about 25 miles
farther to the north-east. The work of reconstruction began immediately after
the disaster that had overtaken Antigua, but the official transfer was not made till
the vear 1779. The first house of Guatemahi, the hacienda de la Virffen, still
exists, aud is pointed out to strangers as a historic monument. Nevertheless,

232 MEXICO, CEXTE.VL AMERICA, WEST INDIES.

Antigua was never completely abandoned, and it now ranks for size as tlie fiflli
city of the republic. The population even continues to increase, its thermal waters
attract numerous invalids, the inhabitants of Guatemala have their country resi-
dences hei'e, and many of the demolished structures have been rebuilt.

This third Guatemala, at present the largest city of Central America, lies on a
gentle slope in a depression of the plateau about 5,000 feet above the sea on the
divide between the two oceans. Guatemala is dominated by a little porjjhj'ry
eminence, the Cerro del Carmen, where stands the old hermitage, whence the place
takes the nams of Ermita still in use amongst the Cakchiquels. From this knoll
a view is commanded of the whole city, which covers a considerable space. The
surrounding landscape is unattractive owing to the absence of trees on the scrubby
watershed of Las Vacas, or the " Cows," which throughout the Spanish occupation
has been used as a cattle ranche. But the vast panorama stretching bej'ond this
district, and limited southwards bj' the two lofty volcanic cones, presents a superb
prospect : no other capital occupies a more marked central and commanding position
over the region sloping in all directions at its feet. Guatemala, which is laid out
with the perfect regularity of a model city, presents in the interior a somewhat
monotonous aspect. According to the original municipal regulations, inspired by
the memor}' of the disasters that had overtaken Antigua, the builders were for-
bidden to erect any houses exceeding 20 feet in height, and although this law is
no longer observed, the churches having here as elsewhere their domes and belfries,
most of the structures are very low, gaining horizontally what they lose vertic ill\'.
Hence the population is somewhat scattered, except in the suburbs, where every
narrow cabin is occupied by an Indian family. Tcjwards the middle of the century,
when it was scarcely half its present size, travellers were wont to compare Guate-
mala to a city of tombstones. Formerly all the large buildings were convents or
churches. Now the Jesuits' establishment has been transformed to a national
iastitution with an observatory. The city also possesses a polytechnic and other
schools, learned societies, libraries and a museum. But the industries only suffice
to supply the local wants, and provisions are mostly brought from the surrounding
villages and plantations on the Pacific slope. Water is also brought from a con-
siderable distance by the two aqueducts of Mixco and Pinula. On the plateau
itself, covered with volcanic scoriae in some places to the depth of 600 or 700 feet,
the rain water is rapidly absorbed, reappearing lower down in remote valleys.
But to this very circumstance, preventing the accumulation of stagnant waters,
Guatemala probably owes its complete immunity from the ravages of typhus.
Still the place is not very healthy, and all maladies affecting the respiratory organs
are aggravated by the clouds of dust raised by every breeze from the loose igneous
soil. Hence most of the well-to-do citizens remove during the dry season to some
umbrageous ru,ral retreat : the most fashionable places at present are the towns and
villages situated farther south in the neighbourhood of Antigua.

The railway descending from Guatemala towards the Pacific branches off from
the valley of Antigua southwards in the direction of Lake Amatitlan, which it
skirts on the west side. The town of Aitiatiflan, situated on the lake at the outlet

muMWimmmth

234 MEXICO, CENTRAL AMERICA, WEST INDIES.

rails and cranes for the convenience of barges in connection with the shipping
which has to ride at anchor over half a mile from the port.

The department of Santa Rosa, conterminous on the east with Amatitlan
and Escuintla, has no large towns ; its only trading station is CuaJiniqHiliijjd,
which lies on the highway from San Salvador on the west side of the deep
valley of the Rio de los Esclavos, so called from the " Slaves," that is, the Sinca
people occupying its banks. The broad stream is here crossed by an eleven-arched
brido-e, built in the seventeenth century by the Spaniards, and regarded as the
finest monument of Central America. At the south-east extremity of the republic
stretches the pastoral and agricultural department of Jutiapa, with chief town of
like name. This region is yearly increasing in importance for its exports of live
stock, indigo, and other produce to the neighbouring state. A few other centres
of population have assumed a somewhat urban aspect in the eastern districts of
Guatemala comprised within the Motagua basin. Such is Jalapa, which stands
at an altitude of 5,600 feet in an upland valley of great fertility. The town of
E'fqiiipiilas, also on an affluent of the Motagua, but near a pass leading down to the
sources of the Lempa in San Salvador, is for the greater part of the year almost
deserted, except by a scattered community of about 2,000 Indians. But on
January 15th, feast of Nuestro Sefior de Esquipulas, a vast crowd throngs the
streets and squares lined with temporary huts. The sick and afflicted bend the
knee before a black effigy of Christ, with votive offerings of silver, carved
wooden objects, feather and straw work. "With the religious feast is combined a
fair, which down to the middle of the century, before the construction of the
Panama railway, was frequented by pilgrim traders from Guatemala, Salvador,
and even Mexico. As many as 80,000 persons, we are told by Juarros, were at
times assembled on the plain of Esquipulas. Near the town stands one of the
most magnificent churches in Central America. In a neighbouring southern
valley are worked the Alotepeque silver mines, the most productive in the state.

On the stream flowing from Esquipulas northwards to the Rio Motagua lie the
towns of Chiqiiimala and Zacnpn, both capitals of departments of like name, and
destined to acquire considerable importance in the future development of the
country. They stand on the route to be followed by one of the projected railways
between Guatemala and Puerto Barrios on the Atlantic. About midway between
the two the Copan River joins that of Esquipulas after watering the plains of
Comotan and Jocofan, formerly centres of the cochineal and indigo industries, now
surrounded by rich tobacco plantations. About six miles below Zacaj)a the united
streams fall into the Rio ^Motagua, which a little farther down becomes navigable
for steamers, the heads of navigation being Gttalan during the floods and Barhasco
in the dry season. In the forests of the Sierra del Mico north-east of the latter
place, the site of an Indian city, whose very name has perished, is indicated
by numerous pyramids and some fine ruins, especially carved monoliths, covered
with hieroglyphics, human figures, turtles, armadillos and other animals. This
group of monuments takes at present the name of Qairiijua, from a village five
miles off. In 1839, when Stephens and Catherwood began their archaeological

TOPOGRAPHY OF GUATEMALA. 235

exploration of Central America, the very existence of these ruins was unknown,
and travellers passed within a few miles of the place without hearing of them.
At that time nothing was known of any abandoned Indian city in this district
except Copan, which lay just hevond the Guatemalan frontier towards the source
of the Cumotan. According to StoU, the Quirigua remains strike the spectator
especially for their remarkable state of preservation, although not built of particu-
larly hard materials and exposed to a destructive climate at once very damp and
very hot ; moreover, the inundations of the Motagua occasionally reach the site
of the ruins, and furrow the surface with ravines. Hence he infers that the
monuments cannot date from any remote period, and perhaps were even in a
perfect condition when the Spaniards made their appearance in the country.
The slave-hunters, who wasted the land in quest of labourers for the Cuban and
St. Domingo plantations, may have been the destroyers of these Indian cities,
although ilaudilay thinks they must have already been in ruins at the time
of Cortes' expedition. Being everywhere in search of provisions for his starving
followers, the conqueror would certainly have applied to Quirigua for succour had
such a large city been in existence at that time. The ruins of Chapuko, which are
said to lie on the south side of the Motagua valley over against Quirigua, have
not yet been explored. Paved causeways and sepulchral mounds occur here and
there in the surrounding forests.

The present route from Guatemala to the Atlintic diverges from the Motagua
valley at Barbasco, and after crossing the Mico range a little to the east of
Quirigua, leads down to Izabal, an unhealthy place on the south side of the Golfo
Dulce. Under the Spanish rule this port, which has the immense advantage of
Ijing some 60 miles inland, but which is inaccessible to vessels of deep draught,
■was unable to develop any trade, owing to the corsairs at that time infesting the
surrounding waters. But after the declaration of independence, Izabal almost
entirely monopolised the foreign trade of Guatemala, such as it was. Then the
discovery of the Californian goldfields, and the establishment of regular lines of
steamers between Panama and San Francisco, had the result of diverting the whole
life of Guatemala from the Atlantic to the Pacific seaboard. Thus Izabal found
itself abandoned, and its silent streets are now overgrown with the sensitive
mimosa. But the improvement of the communications, and peojjling, or rather
repeopling of the land facing the Atlantic, cannot fail to revive and even increase
the trade of Izabal.

At the mouth ol the Piio Dulce, on the Gulf of Amatique, stands the seaport of
Liriiicjston, so named in honour of a jurist who drew up the legal code of Guate-
mala. The first colonists settled herein 1806, and the place is at present inhabited
by Caribs, agriculturists, fishers, and seafarers, who carry on a coasting trade with
Belize and Honduras. Livingston has recently been declared a free port, and is
already much frequented by American skippers, who here ship bananas and other
fruits in exchange for spirits. This port is the third in Guatemala, ranking next
in importance to San Jose and Champerico.

On the east bank of the neighbouring Rio Dulce, and near the present village

23G

MEXICO, CENTRAL AJ^IERICA, WEST INDIES.

of San Gil, stood the great citj' of Nifo, which was cai)tured by Cortes' lieutenant,
Olid, and which he wished to make the cajjital of an independent state. The
eastern headland, at the issue of the Rio Dulce on the margin of the lake, is
crowned by the citadel of Sun Felipe, one of the most unhealthj' places on the
seaboard. It has accordingly been chosen by the Government as a state prison.

Cohan, capital of Alta Vera Paz, stands 4,380 feet above the sea in the
healthiest and one of the most fertile districts of Guatemala. It is a flourishing
place, with an increasing population of over 18,000, mostly industrious Quekchi
Indians, who raise considerable crops of miize and beans. Coffee, cinchona,
and the wax plant {myrica cerifera) are also successfully cultivated. The
neighbouring rocks are pierced by numerous caves, and the whole region may be
said to rest on limestone vaults, the most remarkable of which is that of Sau

99. — Lake Peten.
Scale 1 : 720,000.

r , EI Remate
Maca'nche* , °° /.'AA/o^

30"io-

VVest oF breenwpch

89'dO-

12 Miles.

Agostin Langnin, where a little affluent of the Polochic has its source. A good
carriage-road running south-east and east through the villages of Tactic, Tamahu,
Tucunt, and Tcleman, leads to the riverain port of I'aiizos, where the local produce
is forwarded by a small steamer down the Polochic to the Golfo Dulce. No trace
now remains of the Nueva Seiilla, founded in 1544 near the mouth of the Polochic ;
but in 1825 the English established in the district the colony of Ahbotsville {Boca
Nueva), which was not more successful than its Spanish predecessor.

Lihertad, capital of the department of Peten, better known \>\ its Indian name
of Sacluc, lies on an affluent of the Pasion, a main branch of the Usumacinta.
The few inhabitants of the surrounding savannas are occupied chiefly in stock-
breeding. Excellent pasturage is afforded by the whole of this lake-studded
i-egion stretching northwards in the direction of Yucatan. An island in the

TOPOGRAPHT OF GUATEMALA.

237

neighbouring Lake Peten is occupied by the ancient city of Tayasal, now re-named
Flores in honour of a victim of the civil war of 1826. A steep road leads from
the place to the crest of a hill, whence a fine prosj^ect is commanded of the
islands, headlands, wooded heights, and blue waters of the lake. On the opposite
shore are seen the two large Indian settlements of San Andres and San Jose dis-
posed along the slopes of the encircling hills. The whole territorj- of Peten is

Pig. 100. — Density of the Popuiatiox in Guatemala.
Scale 1 : 4,500.000.

Inhabitan'* to llie Square MUe

Oto2.

2 to 20. 20 to 40. 40 to 60. 60 to 100. 100 and

upwards.
• Towns of over 25,000 inhibitants.

. 60 Miles.

surprisingly fertile, maize yielding two hundredfold without manure, while the
cacao, coffee, tobacco, and vanilla of the surrounding plantations are of the best
qualit}'. The fishes inhabiting the lake are said to be all of distinct species.
According to the legend they were formerly of larger size than at present, being
fed in pre-Columbian times on the bodies of the dead. Of the ruined cities that are
scattered over the clearings north of the lake, in the direction of Yucatan, Ti/ciil
alone has been explored. It lies 20 miles to the north-cast of Peten, and is noted

238 MEXICO, CEXTEAL AMERICA, WEST INDIES.

for its lofty verdure-clad pyramid, the most majestic Maya structure seen by
Maiulslay during kis explorations of Central America. Here BernouilU found
about a dozen hieroglyphical tablets of sapota wood, which are now preserved in
the Museum of Basle

Economic Coxdition of Guatemala.

The population of Guatemala is steadily increasing almost exclusively by the
natural excess of births over the mortality. Foreign immigration is so slight that
not more than 2,000 strangers are settled in the republic. Of these the most
numerous are the "Tiroleses," a term applied generally to all North Italians, whose
industrious habits have earned for them the contempt of the Indians, hitherto
accustomed to regard their white masters as a superior race above the necessity of
manual labour. Since 1778 the jjopulation has grown from 260,000 to 1,450,000,
and the increase has been uniform in all the departments, except in some of the
northern districts on the Atlantic coast. At the same time illegitimacy is exces-
sive, especially amongst the Ladinos, or "civilised" Indians, nearly one-half of
whom are returned as born out of wedlock.

With the exception of wheat grown with potatoes on the Altos (uplands), the
agricultural produce amply suffices for the local demand. Like those of Mexico,
the Indians of the temperate zone live almost exclusively on maize, beans, and
bananas ; even fasajo, or jerked meat, is a rare delicacy, and pork is eaten only on
feast-days. Water is their usual drink, except on pay-day, when they get drunk
on a fiery brandy here bearing the Peruvian name of " chicha," or on other fermented
liquors such as tiste and jmnqne, which, like the povola of Tabasco, is food and
drink combined.

When Guatemala proclaimed her independence, next to nothing was raised for
the foreign markets ; but cochineal, for which the country is as well suited as Oaxaca
itself, soon became a lucrative industry, especially in the Amatitlan and neigh-
bouring districts. The export rose from 16,000 pounds in 1827 to nearl}' 2,250,000
in the middle of the century. But the cochineal industry was ruined by the dis-
covery of dyes extracted from coal, and nopal-fields are now rarely seen. They
have been replaced by coffee, which'is now the staple of the export trade. In the
districts where it is cultivated — Boca Costa, between Retalhuleu and Escuiutla,
Antigua, Petapa, Amatitlan — the shrub thrives in the shade of leafy trees from
2,000 to 3,000 feet above the sea, and on open plantations up to 4,000 and even
5,000 feet. The Guatemalan coffee is highly esteemed, and the plant has hitherto
escaped the ravages of parasites. The crop of 1890, yielded by over 50,000,000
shrubs, was estimated at 30,000 tons, worth £3,000,000.

The temperate zone is also suited for sugar- growing, although, for want of
capital, Guatemala is unable to compete with the wealthy planters of Cuba, Louis-
iana, and Brazil. Nevertheless, from 5,000 to 6,000 tons are raised in the Costa
Cuca and Costa Grande districts, for the local wants and for the production of rum.
But distillers are so heavily taxed that little profit is made, except by smugglers.
The cultivation of cacao {theobroma) has been almost abandoned, although the

'#'•'«•'

'* • «•

v^ '•'•''> •^:x

ECONOMIC COXDinON OF GUATEMALA.

239

local varieties are of exquisite flavour. During the Spanish rule the cacao of
West Guatemala and Soconusco was reserved for the Court of Madi-id ; now it is
no longer exported, though it commands a higher price in the country than th&
best varieties exported to Europe. Indigo, formerly raised in the Retalhulcu
district, is. also now neglected, hut, being a vigorous plant, it continues to grow wild,
and in many places has invaded the sugar and other plantations. Cotton is scarcely

Pig. 101. — Chief PEODtrcis of Guatehaia.

Scale 1 : i-SOXOOO.

West o'^ Greenes ;ch

W llilM.

cultivated, except by the Indians of the hot zone. The competition of foreign
importers has also nearly ruined the native weavers.

Unsuccessful attempts have been made to introduce caoutchouc {castilloa
elasfica) into the temperate zone, but it is stiU collected in the forests, although
the wild plant yields an inferior gum. The cocoanut palm has been planted
round most of the coast towns and farmsteads, but more for ornament than use.
On the other hand, cinchona is extensively cultivated, especially in the Cohan
district and on the Pacific slope; as many as 1,5-30,000 trees had already been
planted in the year 1SS4.

240 MEXICO, CENTEAL AMERICA, WEST INDIES.

Vast tracts, formerly under primeval forest, have been cleared, and mostly
converted into savannas for stock-breeding. Even in the districts under cultiva-
tion, the planters have their pofreros, or saccitaks, little plots reserved for pasturage.
Nevertheless, the stock is insufficient for the local demand, and cattle have to be
imported at high rates from Mexico and Honduras. Sheep are confined chiefly
to the Altos, where the wool is used in the manufacture of coarse fabrics.

As in ilexico, most of the Indians employed on the plantations are held in a
state of real bondage by the hahilitacioncs, or advances in money, which they are
unable to refund, and for which the produce of their future labour becomes
pledged. Hence, as in the days of slavery, the planters keep overseers to prevent
the men from escaping. Statute labour, and even the lash, flourish in spite of the
law, and the magistrates themselves supply the landowners with "hands" for a small
consideration. Nevertheless, in many districts the Indians are still free, and own
the land they till. In virtue of a recent law, all mayors, or the jefes politico^
(political agents), of the Alta Vera Paz communes, where the civilised Indians
are most numerous, are required to allot to each native as his share of the public
domain a plot of about 4,400 square yards with free title, but on condition of
neither selling, letting, nor mortgaging the concession for the first ten years. Vast
spaces are still unoccupied, and these baldios, as they are called, all belong to the
State, which sells or leases them at pleasure. In order to safeguard what remains of
the vacant lands it has been decided to make no grants of more than 3,400 acres
to a single person, who must be a native or naturalised citizen.

Although, compared to Mexico, Guatemala possesses little mineral wealth,
the Izabal district, on the Atlantic seaboard, was said to abound in auriferous
deposits, hence the expression " Gold Coast " often applied to it in official documents
of the seventeenth century. These treasures were worked exclusively by English
miners, who, according to the tradition, extracted enough gold to purchase " a
kingdom of Spain." In recent times they have been succeeded by Americans,
who have at least discovered gold washings, though the yield is valued at no more
than £6,000 a year. Quicksilver mines exist on the Huehuetenango plateaux ; but
the Indians, who from time to time oifer the pure metal for sale, have hitherto
refused to reveal the locality. A mountain in the Cumbre de Chixoy is also said to
contain over 35,000,000 cubic feet of lead ore, three-fourths of which is pure metal.

The foreign trade of Guatemala, although steadilj' increasing, is still less than
£2,000,000, including all the exchanges. About nine-tenths of the total exports
are represented by coffee, the other articles in order of importance being sugar,
skins and hides, caoutchouc, silver, and bananas. Great Britain has the largest
share of the foreign traffic, the United States, France, and Germany ranking next
in importance.

The railway system is little developed, the only important lines being those
from San Jose to Guatemala, and from Champerico to Eetalhuleu. It is now
proposed to continue these lines to the Atlantic, and Puerto Barrios, on St.
Thomas Bay, has been chosen as the eastern terminus of the transoceanic railway.
A few miles have already been constructed at the Atlantic end, but the ascent to

ECONOMIC CONDITION OF GUATEMALA.

211

tlie plateaux, tlie bridging of the Motagua, and otlaer difRculties, havo arrested
the progress of the line, the total length of which is estimated at ISG miles.
Even good carriage-roads are still rare, and the only bridge crossing the Motagui

Fig. 102.— GrATEiiAiAN Alcaldes, Altos Region.

has been swept away by the floods. Meanwhile, all merchandise destined for the
Atlantic has to be tran.sported by pack mules. In the thinly -peopled regions of
the interior the postal service is still carried on, as in the tim'e of Montezuma, by

VOL. XVII. ^

242 MEXICO, CENTRAL AMERICA, WEST INDIES.

relays of couriers, by means of whom letters and verbal messages are transmitted
witb great rapidity. But the development of the telegraph, and even of the
telephone, must soon supersede this antiquated system.

Education is still in a backward state, and in 1890 there were only 1,200
schools, with an attendance of 53,000, in the whole republic. The three colleges
for secondary instruction are frequented by about 1,200 students, and in all the
higher schools English is obligatory.

The Guatemalan constitution has undergone many changes. At one time part
of a larger state, at another an independent republic, alternately ruled by the
"Serviles" and the " Liberals," exposed to the tyranny of a Carrera or the
cruelty of a Barrios, the nation has had to modify its political charter with every
fresh revolution. The last constitution was that of 1879, completed in 1889,
though fresh changes will have still to be made if Guatemala is eventually to
become a member of the contemplated Central American Confederacy.

The legislative power is vested in a chamber of deputies, in the proportion
of one to 20,000 inhabitants, elected by all citizens capable of reading and writing.
The deputies, half of whom retire by rotation every two years, number at present
69, and are returned by electoral districts, which are represented by one,
two, or three members, according to their population. The executive is entrusted
to a president elected for six months, assisted by a state council, and six ministers
having charge of foreign affairs, the interior, public works, war, finance, and
public instruction. Lastly, the judicial functions are exercised by a high court of
final appeal, and lower courts, all judges being appointed by election. Imprison-
ment for debt is abolished, and the domicile, as well as private correspondence, is
held to be inviolate, except in time of war or invasion, when all rights are
suspended.

In the departments and communes, the aijuntamientos are constituted by
popular suffrage, although the Government reserves the right of dissolving these
assemblies, and replacing them by a judge. It also appoints to each department
a jefe jmlitico, who is always a military officer, although charged with civil func-
tions. His power over the Indians is almost unlimited, and in each commune
a comisionado politico or gohernador, often chosen amongst the descendants of the
ancient caciques, transmits his orders to the alcaldes, of whom there are two or
three, according to the population of the district. The " first alcalde " has special
charge of the Ladinos, the " second "of the Indians, and both wear the traditional
hat and band as the badge of their authority, besides the cruciform or silver-
mounted rod.

The Church, long supreme in Guatemala, has no longer any recognized privi-
leges. According to the constitution, no cult enjoys any pre-eminence, and the
free exercise of all religions is authorised, although in 1890 there was only one
Protestant church in the capital. The Jesuits had already been expelled in 1767,
and in 1871 their establishments were finally suppressed and their property con-
fiscated. The same fate had befallen the other religious communities in 1829,
although they subsequently recovered part of their effects. But the property of

ECONOMIC C0M)1TI0X OF GUATEMALA.

243

all religious orders was " nationalised " in 1872, and in 187-i all nunneries were
suppressed except one. Some of the convents were used as schools or depots ; but
most of the ecclesiastical domains benefited the " politicians " alone, many of whom
suddenly found themselves in possession of vast fortunes.

OflSciallj- all citizens between the ages of 18 and 50 are bound to military-
service ; but the law exempts the only sons of widows, professors, officials, and all
capable of purchasing exemption by an annual payment of 50 dollars. Pure

Fig. 103. — PoLmcAi. Divisio>-3 of GuiXEiLU-i.

ScilB I 4.500,000.

130 Miles.

Indians are not enrolled, but in time of war they are pressed into the transport
service.

The yearly budget varies from £800,000 to over £1,000,000, mostly raised
from the customs levied on nearly all foreign imports, or derived from the excise
on the manufacture and sale of spirits, ilost of the revenue is absorbed by the
army, though a yearly sum of £80,000 to £100,000 is devoted to public instruction.

In 1S90 the national debt was about £4,200,000, over half of which was due to
English capitalists.

R 2

244 MEXICO, CENTRAL AMERICA, WEST INDIES.

The republic is divided iuto 23 administrative departments, all of which are
less than -3,000 square miles in extent, except the three great divisions of Huehue-
tenango (6,000), Alta Vera Puz (7,000), and Peten (10,000). The chief towns,
mostly bearing the same names as the departments, have all populations of less
than 20,000, except Totonicapam (20,000), Quezaltenango (24,000), and the state
capital, Guatemala (06,000).

III. — Sax Salvador.

San Salvador, or simplj' Salvador, smallest of the Central American states, is
the richest and relatively the most densely jjeopled. Its area is estimated at
about 7,250 square miles, or less than that of British Honduras, though its popula-
tion is at least twenty times greater than that colony. It forms a narrow zone of
quadrilateral shape on the Pacific slope, 186 miles long and with a mean breadth of
not more than 50 miles. The landward frontiers are mostly conventional lines, or
else indicated by streams both banks of which are inhabited by peoples of the same
origin. Towards Guatemala the line follows the course of the little river Paza to
the Chingo volcano, beyond which it intersects Lake Guija and trends round east-
v^ards to Honduras, where it traverses mountains and vallej's with equal disregard
of the physiciil and ethnical relations. Northwards the frontier is not indicated by
the crest of the sierra, but by the river Sumpul, a tributary of the Lemj^a, then by
the Lempa itself below the confluence, and lastly by another stream belonging
to the same basin. On the east it follows the course of the Goascoran, which
leaves to Salvador only a small part of the margin of Fonseca Bay.

The main range and the volcanic chain, which had already ramified in Guate-
mala, continue to diverge to a considerable distance eastwards, so that the former
belongs entirely to Honduras, the latter to Salvador. Here the prevailing rocks
are undoubtedly of eruptive origin, although many volcanic cones are no longer
easily recognised, their craters having been obliterated, and their slopes covered
with the same grey, white or yellowish clay which also overlay the Mexican and
Guatemalan mountains. The plains encircling the volcanoes consist to a great
depth of ashes and jiumice, the upper crust of w hich, when decomposed, yields a
soil of extraordinary fertility.

East of Guatemala the chief range is that of the steep Matapan Mountains
(5,000 feet), which rise to the north-east of Lake Guija, and which from a distance
seem quite inaccessible. But no igneous cones are here visible, and most of the
active craters lie nearer to the Pacific coast, between Ahuachapam and the \'illage
of San Juan de Dios, where is developed a line of the so-called aiisoks disposed
transversely to the volcanic axis. At many points along this line gases are emitted
in abundance, but all the most remarkable ausoles, presenting every transition
from tlie mud volcano and gas jet to the hot spring, are concentrated close to
Ahuachapam, on the main route between the cities of Guatemala and San Salvador.
Over the plain are scattered large mud lakes, kept in a state of ebullition b}' the
underground vapours, and the clays deposited by the ausoles present every shade
of colour — blue, green, yellow or red, evidently due to the disintegration of ferru-

SAN SALVADOR.

215

ginous rocks intersporsed with alum and siilpliur. To judge from tlie accounts
of early writers, all the ausoles would appear to have diminished in temperature
and activity during the present century.

Farther east is developed an igneous system, the Madre del Volcan, with peaks
from 5,500 to 6,500 feet high, all of which — Apaneca, Launita (Lagunita), San
Juan, Aguila, Naranjo and others — are said by the inhabitants of Sonsonate to be
true volcanoes. But according to Dollfus and Mont-Serrat thej^ are rather masses
of trachytic porphyry, covered with yellow clays and ashes ejected by distant
volcanoes. One, however, the Santa Ana (C,650 feet), appears to be a real crater,
which has been recently even in eruption.

A far more celebrated, though less elevated, volcano is that of Izalco, which

Kg. 101. — AUSOL AT Ahuaohapam.

belongs to the same system, and which, like the Jorullo of Mexico, lias made its
appearance since the arrival of the Sj^auiards in the New World. At the beginning
of the seventeenth century, its site, or at least the district near Sonsonate, was
occupied by ausoles like those of Ahuachapam, which, however, appear to have after-
wards become extinct. But on February 23, 1770, the ground suddenly opened
and ejected copious lava streams. Then the cone began to rise above the surface,
and has ever since continued to expand ; but since the first eruption it has ejected
nothing but ashes. Formerlj' the explo-.ions were almost incessant, and the
volumes of fiery vapour rolling up from the crater at night earned for Izalco the
title of the Faro del Salvador (" Salvador Lighthouse "). Dollfus and Mont-
Serrat, who ascended it during a short period of repose in 1SG6, estimated its height

24G

MEXICO, CENTRAL AMERICA, WEST INDIES.

at a little over G,000 feet, and found the summit pierced by three craters, one of
which emitted vapours with hissing and rumbling noises. Izalco is a perfect cone,
" as regular as if turned out by a lathe."

San Salvador, a volcano rising to a height of G,'200 feet, about six miles north
of the capital, appears to have been quiescent since pre-Columbian times. From
a distance it presents none of the distinctive features of an igneous cone, being an
elongated mass with irregular base, and wooded nearly to the summit. But it
terminates in the so-called boqueron, an immense crater nearly round, about three
miles in circuit and flooded by a green transparent lake 650 feet deep. On the
flanks is an ausol constantly discharging vapours, and near the north base are some

Fig. 105. — Volcanoes of West Salvadob.
Scale 1 : 1.200^000.

Y¥W?

18 Unes.

parasitic cones, one of which, the Quezaltepec volcano, was the scene of a small
eruption at the beginning of the century.

But although the volcanoes in the neighbourhood of the capital have not been
the scene of any important eruptions during the historic period, earthquakes have
been frequent and almost as disastrous as in any region of the globe. They are
all the more dangerous that the ground on which San Salvador is built consists of a
whitish tufaceous rock, light and unstable, " floating," so to say, in the depressions
of the solid crust without coalescing with it. The city has been overthrown and
rebuilt on the same site no less than seven times during the last three centuries.
The sudden catastrophe of 1854 swallowed up many victims, while that of 1873
was even still more destructive to the buildings.

This disturbance appears to have radiated from Tiuke Ilopango (Apulo), a deep

SAN SALVADOE.

217

basin six miles cast of the capital, about 1 ,600 feet above the sea, encircled by steep
rocky shores. The lake, which has an area of 2-1 square miles, has frequently
chaDged its level, and towards the middle of the eighteenth century it was much
lower than at present. But after a series of landslips its eastern emissary, which
flows in a deep barranca to the Jiboa, a direct affluent of the Pacific, was dammed
Lip, thus causing a considerable rise in the level. In 1873, the lake was
violently agitated and raised about three feet above its normal level, and in 1879,
a fresh disturbance was followed by another rise of four feet.

Then the waters overflowed their banks, and rapidly excavated a channel,

Fis

lO'j. — Lake Ilopaxgo.
Scale 1 : l70/y«i.

tlopan£(

West oi GreenwicK

iJeptha.

0 to 50
Fathoms.

60 to 100
Fathoms.

100 Fathoms
and upwards.

__ 3 Tililee.

whereby a subsidence of eight feet was effected in three hours. In 54 days there
was a total fall of 35 feet, the volume discharged being estimated at over 20,320
million cubic feet. The noxious vapours which at first accompanied these convul-
sions were followed by discharges of lava, and islets composed of eruptive matter
rose gradually above the surface of the seething waters. But when all was over
nothing remained except an island of hard lava 160 feet high, in the immediate
vicinity of which the sounding- line revealed a depth of over 100 fathoms.
During "the eruption the geologist Goodyear recorded no less than 440 violent
shocks.

218

MEXICO, CENTRAL AMERICA, WEST INDIES.

North-east of Lake Ilopan go rise the spurs of the Cojutepec volcano (3,-100
feet), whose crater, though still visible, has been quiescent throughout the historic
period. Farther on follows Chichontepec, the " Twin-peaked," now known by
the name of San Vicente, highest volcano in S^ilvador (7,920 feet). Like Agua,
in Guatemala, its terminal cone formerly contained a tarn, which after a long
rainy season, burst its margin and rushed down to the plains through barrancas
scored in the flank of the mountain. The summit of San Vicente presents the
finest panoramic view in Salvador, embracing Lake Ilopango, the richly culti-

Fig. 107. — Volcanoes of East Salvadoh.
Scale 1 : eoj.oon.

12 Miles.

vated slopes descending towards the Pacific, and the deep valley of the Rio
Lempa.

Beyond the gap caused by this fluvial valley the chain of igneous cones is
continued by the Tecapa volcano, also containing a lake of considerable extent,
whose waters, according to the natives, " are cold on one side and hot on the
other." Farther on follow the mountains of Usulutan and the four-crested
Chinameca (5,000 feet). None of these have been the scene of recent disturbances,
while Chinamcca's vast crater, nearly a mile in circumference, is completely

closed.

Sail Miguel, one of the loftiest summits in Salvador (7,100 feet), which, thanks

RIVERS OF SALVADOR. 249

to its isolation, its rugged slopes, and sharply-truncated upper crest, presents an
aspect of unrivalled grandeur, offers a superb prospect of the surrounding plains
and river valleys away to the Pacific and ramifying inlets of Fonseca Bay. San
Miguel has been in eruption several times during the historic period, and in 1844:
as many as fourteen fissures on its flanks discharged diverging streams of lava, one
of which flowed ten miles northwards to the outskirts of the city of San Miguel.
The terminal crater is one of the largest in Central America, being nearly two
miles in circuit and 500 feet deep.

Farther east the volcanic chain terminates in the twin crested Conchagua,
■whose gently-inclined wooded slopes project into Fonseca Bay. Conchagua, whose
chief summit, the Cerro del Ocote, rises to a height of 4,100 feet, was supposed to
be extinct till the j'car 1868, when a fissure was opened on its flanks, whence
issued dense volumes of vapours, accompanied by violent earthquakes and avalanches
of rocks.

The lava streams which have been discharged parallel with the Pacific coast
have certainly contributed to modify the hydrographic system of Salvador by
damming up the streams and compelling them either to excavate fresh channels or
to fill vast lacustrine depressions. A distinct waterparting has been formed by
the volcanic range, whence on one side flow rapid torrents seawards, while, on the
other, the running waters converge in the great valley of the Rio Lempa, running
parallel with the igneous axis and the main Honduras range.

The Lempa, one of the chief rivers of Central America, rises in Guatemala, one
of its headstreams descending from the famous shrine of Esquipulas. After
crossing the frontier it receives the overflow of the great Lake Guija, which is
itself fed by the Ostua and numerous torrents from the surrounding mountains.

Below the confluence the Lempa continues to flow parallel with the Pacific
coast, receiving on both banks numerous tributaries from the northern and southern
ranges. Beyond its junction 'with its largest afiluent, the Sumpul from the
Honduras mountains, it is joined from the east by the Tonola. Beyond this point
the mainstream forces a passage through the escarpments of the plateau down to
the plains, where its yellow waters, scarcely 10 feet deep in the dry season, flow
with a sluggish current a few yards above the level of the Pacific. During the
floods its lower course has a depth of from 20 to 26 feet, but at its mouth it is
obstructed by a bar never more than six or seven feet dei p. Thus the Lempa, with
a course of about 185 miles, a catchment basin 6,000 square miles in extent, and a
mean discharge of from 16,000 to 24,000 cubic feet per second, is inaccessible to
marine navigation, though river steamers can ascend its lower reaches to the
great southern bend at the Tonola confluence. The San Miguel, which flows in a
nearly parallel channel farther east, enters the sea at the Estero de Jiquilisco, an
inlet which might easily be connected with the Lempa.

The Salvador coast, like that of Guatemala, has been subject to numerous
changes of level in past times. Banks of recent shells lying some distance inland
show that the beach has been upheaved, or else that the neighbouring waters have
subsided.

250 MEXICO, CENTEAL AMERICA, WEST INDIES.

Climate, Flora, Fauna.

Being intersected by 13° 30' north latitude, with a general southern incline, the
Salvador coastlands are exposed to great heats which, despite the refreshing sea-
breezes, range normally from about 78° to 83° Fahr. But the coastlands are the
least inhabited part of the country, most of the population being concentrated in
the elevated volcanic zone between 2,000 and 3,000 feet above sea-level, where the
mean temperature falls to 7-1° and even 70° Fahr. Farther north, in the low-lying
valley of the Lempa, which is inaccessible to the sea-breezes, the climate again
becomes hot and insalubrious ; hence this district also is but sparsely peopled.

The rains, which are more copious on the seaward slopes of the mountains,
begin to fall about the middle of May, and last, with a short interruption towards
the end of June, till the month of September. They are always brought by the
vendavales, or southern winds, and are at times accompanied by storms, and even by
cluihancos, or cyclones. During the dry season, when the north winds prevail, the
coastlands are also exposed to storms, the so-called fcrrah's, which are much dreaded
by the fishing populations, especially in the months of February and March.

In its flora and fauna Salvador differs little from Guatemala. A characteristic
species is the balsam {myrospcrmum sah'ctforensr), which has given its name to the
section of the coast between Acajutla and Libertad, and which was formerly called
" Peruvian Balsam," because forwarded to Spain by the Callao route. Salvador is
especially rich in medicinal plants, gums, and resins. Of late years the planta-
tions have been somewhat frequently visited by clouds of locusts.

Inhabitants.

The Pipils, that is, the Aztecs of Guatemala, were also in possession of west
Salvador at the time of the Spanish Conquest, as is attested by the local nomen-
clature. The centre of their power was at Suchitoto, north of the present capital,
and Bernal Diaz tells us that their social, religious and political institutions were
identical with those of the Mexican Aztecs. Their territory was limited north
and east by the Rio Lempa, which river long arrested the advance of the Spaniards.
The very name of the river is a corruption of Lempira, chief of the Chontal
Indians, who offered the stoutest resistance to the invaders.

After the conquest, the Pipils, like their Mexican kindred, were reduced to a
state of abject servitude ; yet they became gradually assimilated to their x-nasters
by crossings, and at the time of the declaration of independence in 1821, the
Salvador half-breeds greatly outnumbered the whites. At present, about four-
fifths of the population are of mixed Hispano-Tndian descent. But there still
survive some nearly if not quite full-blood Indian communities, such as the Pipils
of Izalno, who stiU speak a Mexican dialect.

But the native customs and language are best preserved by the people of the
Balsam coast, south of the volcanic range. These Indians, who dwell in low huts
covered v/ith foliage, cultivate a little maize, and do some trade in bananas with

TOPOGRAPHY OF SALVADOR.

251

the seaports. The money derived from this traffic is spent in decorating their
churches and feasting their patron saints, all being now at least nominal Catholics.
Physically, they differ little from their Guatemalan neighbours, except in their
darker complexion, and the much smaller stature of their women.

T0P0GR.\PHY.

Ahuachapam, the first town near the Guatemalan, is perhaps the city of Paza
(Pasaco), whence was named the Rio Paza, fonning the present political frontier
between Guatemala and Salvador. Ahuachapam, with the neighbouring towns of
Atiquisaija, ChalchHitpa, and Santa Ana, lies in a marvellously fertile district, on
which sugar and coffee are largely grown, but which has often been a battle-field

Kg. lOS. — San Sai-vador a>."d its Exvteoxs.
Scale 1 : 230,000.

^E»

.tincnjo-

'•'S'S^bi-t^Sp-

>»-::■■'

r3-

^5'

1 i ■>:!-

/ .

Ar,

ti|;uo Cuscatlan

13-
40'

; -5 TecUy . ..
.C.Mevi S. Salvador);

■

\ ■

t -wsm

ii^

• 69"i6' .- -.

'"'"^^ ^ .

^■^^^M/iiiitf^

\ T-- ;,'■ Greenwich

PTS

. 6 lliles.

in the wars between Guatemala and Salvador. It was at Chalchuapa that the
dictator, Eufino Barrios, was overthrown in the ^jinguinary engagement of 1885,
which put an end to the hegemony of Guatemala over the other Central American
states.

Sonsonafe, or the " Four Hundred Springs," also lies in a rich and well-watered
plain, which is often illumined at night by the fires of Izalco. Formerly the most
important place in west Salvador, Sonsonate has now been eclipsed by Santa Ana,
which lies to the north of the volcano of like name on the main route between
Salvador and Guatemala. Since the earthquakes h\ which the capital has been
twice destroyed, Santa xVna has become the largest city in the republic ; it is an
important agricultural centre, and the neighbouring: district of Mctwpan, on

252 MEXICO, CENTRAL AMERICA, WEST INDIES.

the north side of Lake Guija, abounds in productive iron, copper, silver, and
zinc mines.

Acajutla, the outlet of this western division of Salvador, lies on the west side
of a spacious bay, open to the western and southern winds. Despite its exposed
position, Acajutla has become the largest seaport in the state, shipping coffee and
other produce in exchange for foreign manxjfactured wares. It is the seaward
terminus of the first railway built in >Salv;;dor, which runs north to Sonsonate and
Armenia, the ancient Giiaymoco, and which is ultimately to effect a junction with
the projected trunk line from Mexico to Panama. A branch in course of con-
struction runs through the Guayuiwd towards the flourishing coffee plantations of
Santa Ana, whence the main highway leads to San Sahadur, capital of the
republic.

This place was originally founded in 1525 in the Suchitoto valley, much
farther north than its present position in the fertile plain, 2,300 feet above the
sea, at the east foot of the San Salvador volcano. The district, covered with coffee
and other plantations, is watered by the Aselguate, a southern affluent of the Rio
Lempa, while immediately to the south other streams flow in parallel channels
down to the Pacific. The city thus stands on the waterparting, and has the
further advantage of occupying a strong central position, defended by wide and
deep barrancas of extremely difflcult access. But the district is exposed to
frequent and violent earthquakes, by which San Salvador has been twice destroyed
during the present century. On these occasions, many of the inhabitants sought
refuge elsewhere, and especially at Santa Tecla, nine miles to the north-west.

Santa Tecla thus became the temporary capital, and even received the name of
Nuevo San Salvador, but being equally exposed to underground disturbances, as
well as to volcanic eruptions, it scarcely offered much more security than the first
place, which has been rebuilt of wood, on a principle of elastic frames calculated
to resist sudden shocks. San Salvador has now resumed its position as seat of
the administration, but has not yet recovered the population of 30,000 which it
possessed about the middle of the century. It communicates by a well-kept road
with its seaport of La Libertad, an exposed roadstead, where the shipping rides at
anchor in the surf over half a mile from the shore.

East of the capital the main route passes north of Lake Ilopango to Coju-
tepeqne, an Indian town, followed successively by Jihoa and San Vicente, the
latter founded in 1638 on a wesiern affluent of the lower Lempa on the site of the
ancient Aztec city of Tehuacan. The ruins of this place, known bj' the name of
Opieo, stand on a lateral terrace of the San Vicente volcano. The route leads
thence through Sacatecoluca to the port of Concordia, at the mouth of the Rio
Jiboa.

In the marshy and insalubrious valley of the Lempa there are no centres of
population, the nearest towns being Suchitoto, Ilohasco, and Sensiintepeque, which
stand on breezy headlands, whei-e the temperature is lower than in the low-lying
fluvial basin. Chalatcnango, the only town in the northern district between the
Lempa and the Sumpul, lies also at some distance from the mainstream.

TOPOGRAPHY OF SALVADOR.

253

East of the Lcmpu tlie largest place is Chinameca, which is inhabited by
Tndiaus and half-castes. San Miguel, lying farther east on the river of that
name, derives some importance from its fairs, which are frequented by traders

from all parts of Central America and Mexico. Its seaport of La Union stands on
one of the numerous sheltered inlets of Fonseca Bay, where excellent anchorage is
afforded at about a mile from the shore.

MEXICO, CEXTEAL AMERICA, WEST INDIES.

Economic Condition of Salvador.

Despite its foreign wars and civil strife, Salvador is a prosperous country, as
shown by tlie rapid increase of population unaided by any foreign immigration.
Since 1778, when it was originally returned at 117,436, tbe population has
certainly more than quadrupled, the census of 1886 yielding over 651,000, and the
estimate for 1890 being at least 675,000, or about 70 inhabitants per square mile.
At the same proportion the United States would have a population of from
340,000,000 to 350,000,000, instead of 63,000,000 according to the census of
1890.

Recently Salvador has given a striking proof of its vitality by the ease with
which it has accomplished a great economic revolution. Till lately its revenue

Fig. 110. — Denbitt of the Popdiation op Salvadok.
Scale 1 : 2,700,000.

OtolO.

Inhabitants to the Square Mile.

a ffl ffl

40 to 60. 60 to 80. SO to 120.

Each square represents a population of 50O.

• Towns of over 20,000 inhabitimta.

120 and upwards.

60 Miles.

depended mainly on indigo, its only article of export. But since the discovery of
the various coal-tar dyes superseding the use of indigo, the Salvador planters have
had to abandon its cultivation and replace it chiefly by coffee and sugar. The
yield of the silver mines has also contributed to pay for the textiles, hardware,
corn, and other articles imported from abroad. The total value of the exchanges
is about £4 per head of the population, amounting in 1890 to over £2,250,000.

Inland traffic is facilitated by carriage-roads with a total length of 2,700
miles in 1890, but in the same year there were only 36 miles of railways. The
telegraph and postal services are also in a backward state, though education, now
gratuitous and obligatory, is making considerable progress. In 1889 the schools
were attended by over 40,000 scholars, or one-eighteenth of the whole population,

nOXDUEAS. 255

exclusive of 1,300 frequenting the tigh schools and 180 following the courses of
the national university in the capital.

Salvador has been an independent state only since 1859, and even since then
its constitution, which should be representative, has been frequently modified or
superseded by a military government tempered by insurrections. In theory the
legislative power is vested in a national assemblj- of 42 members, elected for
one year by popular suffrage, while the executive is exercised by a president, who
is also elected by the people, but for four years, and who chooses his own ministrj',
consisting of four secretaries of state.

The standing army comprises about 2,000 of all arms, with a militia nominally
40,000 strong. The administration of justice is entrusted to a supreme court
situated in the capital, with courts of appeal at Santa Ana, Cojutepeque, and San
Miguel, tribunals of first instance for each of. the three judiciary districts, and
justices of the peace for the towns and communes.

As in most American states, the revenue is mainly derived from the customs,
about one-third being contributed by monopolies on tobacco and spirits. Not
more than a fourth of the national income is absorbed by the army, a proportion
less than that expended on education and public works. In 1890 the debt
amounted to £1,300,000.

Under the Spanish regime Salvador formed part of the viceroyalty of Guate-
mala, comprising the four provinces of Sonsonate, San Salvador, San "Vicente,
and San Miguel. At present, the republic is divided into fourteen adminis-
trative departments, grouped under three divisions, for which see Appendix.

lY. — Honduras.

The verj' name of Honduras recalls the times of the discovery, when the
Spanish pilots, advancing cautiously along the coasts, reported shallow soundings
{Jionduras) in the waters at the head of Honduras Bay. Columbus, who in 1502
first explored these waters between Capes Caxinas (Honduras) and Gracias-a-Dios,
ran great risks amid the surrounding reefs and shoals. But its present name was
given to the seaboard not by Columbus, but by Bartholomew de las Casas, who in
his Discovery of the West Indies by the Spaniards, speaks of the land of
" Hondure," as if this name were of Indian origin. Twenty-two years later, at
the time of Fernan Cortes' famous expedition across Yucatan, the country was
known to the Spaniards by the name of Hibueras or Higueras, and it has also been
called " New Estremadura "

After forming part of the Guatemalan viceroyalty, Honduras was separated
from the mother country with the rest of Central America, and at present forms
one of the five sister republics. But despite its natural advantages of cL'mate,
central position and excellent harbours on both oceans, its progress has been
relatively slow. Under the Spanish rule the seaports and cultivated plains on
the Atlantic side attracted the attention of the corsairs by whom these coast-
lands were ravaged for a great distance inland. The country has, doubtless.

256

MEXICO, CENTRAL AMERICA, WEST INDIES.

been gradually resettled, but the bighest estimates assign it a population of not
more tban six pei'sons to the square mile.

Physical Features.

Like Guatemala, Honduras is of triangular shape, but its position is reversed,
60 that its base rests on the Atlantic, and its apex reaches the Pacihc at Fonseca Bay.

The limits of the state are, how-
Fig. in. -Ixteeoceanio Wateepaetixg, IIoxdukas. g^gj.^ almost everywhere indi-

Sc.ile 1 : 480,000. , T , , ' . . , , .

cated, not by conventional lines as
elsewhere, but by such natural
featui-es as mountains and river
valleys. In the north-west it is
separated from Guatemala bj' a
winding frontier, which, while
assigning to Honduras the Guate-
malan valley of Copan, coincides
in a general way with the crests
of the Merendon, Espiritu Santo
and Grita ranges, beyond which
it follows the course of the Rio
Tinto to a secondary inlet of
Honduras Bay.

Towards Salvador the frontier
is formed m.ainly by the Rivers
Sumpul, Lempa, Tonola and Goas-
coran, and towards Xicaragua by
the Rio Negro on the Pacific side,
and by the Ocotal and Segovia
on the Atlantic slope, the common
waterparting being indicated by
the Dipilto range.

The interior is Still imperfectly
known, but the country may, in
a general way, be said to be di-
vided into two unequal slopes by
a sierra madre disposed parallel
with, and at a mean distance of
about GO miles from, the Pacific coast. This range is much more precipitous on
the Pacific than on the Atlantic side, so that the south side should be regarded
rather as the escarpment of a plateau carved into distinct masses by streams
flowing north to the Caribbean Sea.

Towards the west or Guatemalan frontier the Sierra de Pacaya (6,600 feet)
branches off from the Merendon range and farther on merges in the Sierra de
Selaque, round which the running waters diverge in all directions. Here the

12 Miles.

PHYSICAL FEATURES OF HONT)IIIlAS. 257

Honduras orographic system appears to culminate in several peaks exceeding 10,000
feet in height. Farther on the uplands fall and again rise in the direction of the
east, where they develop the Opalaca and San Juan ranges. At the extremity of
this chain is opened the great depression forming the natural highway of communi-
cation between the two fluvial basins of Humuya on the north, and Goascoran on
the south. Here the waterparting is indicated only by the relatively low passes
of Guajoca (2,300 feet) and Eancho Chiquito (2,400), which are already traversed
by a road, and which will probably soon be crossed by a railway of easy ascent and
free from tunnels.

Eocks of tertiary formation overlying the older strata recall the epoch when
this depression was still flooded by a channel flowing between the two oceans when
Central America formed a chain of islands, not, as at present, a. continuous
isthmus.

Beyond the depression the main range, here called the Sierra Lepaterlque,
soon ramifies into a northern and a southern chain, the former running north-east
to Cape Gracias-a-Dios, the latter southwards to the main range of Nicaragua.

The igneous system, which in Salvador and Nicaragua runs between the main
range and the Pacific coast, disappears altogether on the Honduras mainland, but
is represented in the islets of Fonseca Bay. A slight upheaval of the marine bed
would suflice to connect Sacate Grande and the other volcanoes in this bay with
the opposite coast. Sacate Grande, largest of the group, rises to a height of 2,000
feet, while the neighbouring Tiger Island is 600 feet higher.

On tbe Atlantic side the Merendon main range is continued north-westwards
by the long crest of the Espiritu Santo and Grita chains, which run at a mean
altitude of over 6,700 feet between the valleys of the Guatemalan Rio Motagua and
the Honduras Bio Chamelicon. The system rises probably to 10,000 feet in the Omoa
group, which forms its seaward terminus near the port of Omoa. A northern
spur of the Opalaca hills terminates in the huge and nearly isolated bluff of
Mount Puca, while the San Juan crags, dominating the interoceanic depression,
are continued in the same northerly direction by the MonteciUos and the Sierra de
Canchia, which confront the Comayagua Mountains on the opposite side of the
depression.

Eastwards the Lepaterique hills are connected with the central mass of the
Sierra de Chile, whence various ridges ramify between deep valleys in diflerent
directions. Lastly, the parting-line between Honduras and Nicaragua is formed
by the Cordillera de Dipilto, which is continued seawards to the converging point
of the rectilinear Honduras and Mosquitia shore-lines.

In the interior of the state the Sierra Misoco runs due north-east nearlj'
parallel with the Sulaco and Pija ridges, and Mount Paya, rising to a height of
3,730 feet, near Cape Cameron, probablj* belongs to a branch of the same system.
On the northern edge of the Honduras plateau the Congrehoy ridge, which cul-
minates in a peak 8,200 feet high, seems to form a distinct chain disposed parallel
with the neighbo\iring Baj- Islands.

Some of the mountains of the interior have been spoken of as volcanoes, but

VOL. XVII. s

253 MEXICO, CENTEAL MIEETCA, WEST INDIES.

they have never been seen in eruption, nor have they j'et been ascended by any
scientific explorer. Such pretended volcanoes are Teapasemi (3,000 feet), in the
Dipilto range, about midway between the two oceans, the Guaymaca and Boqueron
heights in the Misoco chain.

Rivers, Islands, Inlets.

Honduras, being well exposed to the Atlantic rains, is traversed by numerous
watercourses,' nor are there any closed basins, as in Mexico and Guatemala. In
the west the first copious stream is the Chamelicon (Chamlico), which flows from
the Merendon Hills parallel with the Motagua of Guatemala, terminating, after a
rapid course of over 160 miles, in a delta connected by one branch with the
Puerto-Caballos lagoon. The Chamelicon might almost be regarded as an
aflfluent of the Ulua, its lower course running for 30 miles parallel with that
stream through the same low-lying plain, where their waters are intermingled
during the floods.

But apart from the Chamelicon, the Ulua is the largest river in Honduras, its
catchment basin comprising about a third of the whole state, and occupying all
the space between the llerendon and Chile ranges. From the west it is joined
by the Santiago (Yenta), swollen by the E,io Santa Barbara, and various emissaries
from the great Lake Yojoa. From the south comes the Humuya, which may be
regarded as the main branch ; from the east, the Sulaco.

Lake Yojoa (Taulebe) has the form of an upland valley disposed crescent-shape
from south to north, and without any visible afiluent at low water. But during
the floods it rises to a great height, sending its overflow through the Jaitique at
its south-eastern extremity to the Santa Barbara. But there are other outlets by
which its waters also escape, disappearing in the 2^0^08 or cavities of the sur-
rounding fossiliferous limestone rocks and reappearing lower down as tributaries
of the Santa Barbara. According to Stanton and Edwards, there are no less than
nine of these underground emissaries all flowing during the rainy season to the
headstreams of the Ulua.

Durioff the floods the Ulua is accessible to small steamers as far as the Sulaco

confluence ; but the bar at its mouth has scarcely more than three feet of water,
so that shipping is obliged to anchor at some distance from the estuary.

The next large river going east from the Ulua is the Aguan or Romano, which
enters the sea through two channels between Capes Honduras (Caxinas) and
Cameron. The Romano, which is said to have a course of over 120 miles, traverses
a forest region of great sylvan beauty abounding in auriferous sands. But it Is
a less copious stream than the Patuca, whose various sources flow from the Misoco
and Chile ranges and unite in a single channel above the formidable gorge of the
Portal del Infierno, or " Hell-gate." From this point the Patuca is navigable for
the rest of its course to its mouth, which presents the same dlfla.culties as those of
all the other estuaries along this coast.

The abundjiut alluvia of the EIo Patuca have advanced in a sharp point beyond
the normal shore-line, enclosing right and left shallow marine lagoons, which

THE BAY ISLA^^)S.

259

communicate through several channels \rith the open sea. On the west is the
Bnis (Brewer) lagoon ; on the east the much larger Caratasca (Cartago) basin,
with a depth of 16 feet in the centre. The grassy shores of these inlets are dotted
over with clumps of fir and other trees, giving the landscape the aspect of an
English park.

Although everywhere navigable, the Honduras waters rest on a submarine
bed scarcely more than 50 fathoms deep, with banks, reefs, and islets rising
above the surface. This plateau extends seawards for a mean distance of about
18 or 20 miles, when the sounding-line plimges suddenly iuto depths of

Fig. 112.— Bat Isla^-ds.
Scale 1 : 1,500,000.

Depths.

0 to 100
FaUioms.

100 Fathoms
and apwanls.

_^_ SO Miles.

500 fathoms. Beyond Cape Cameron the shallows extend to ilosquito Bank,
which projects for nearly 130 miles ia the direction of Jamaica. The plateau,
which has an average depth of "about 20 fathoms, reproduces east of Honduras
the same limestone formation as the submerged terrace encircling the Yucatan
seaboard.

Above the submariae bed rises a long line of coralline islets, which are
collectively called the Bay Islands, but of which one alone, UtUa, deserves the
name of island. Utila stands at the western extremity of the group, at the very
edge of the plateau, where the soundings suddenly reveal depths of over 200 fathoms

2G0 MEXICO, CENTILMi AMEEICA, WEST INDIES.

on the north side. Roatan, Elena, Barbareta (Borburata), Bonaca and the other
members of the group all lie in deep water, and are disposed in the direction from
west-south-west to east-north-east. Roatan, which is by far the largest, is 30
miles long, and is continued eastwards by Elena and Barbareta. Although
scarcely a mile wide, Roatan has a few hills, culminating westwards in an eminence
800 feet high. Bonaca (Guanaja), the lala de Pinos of Columbus, which lies at
the eastern extremity of the group, is still more elevated, its pine-clad granite
peak rising to a height of 1,200 feet.

On the southern slope of Honduras, the two most copious streams are the
Goascoran, the lower course of which forms the boundary-line towards Salvador,
and the Choluteca, whose basin is entirely comprised within Honduras territorj^

The Choluteca flows from the Lepaterique hills to the marine inlet, to which.
In 1522, GO. Gonzalez de Avila gave the name of Fonseca, in honour of Cortes'
relentless enemy, Bishop Fonseca. This vast basin has a superficial area of over
800 square miles, with a breadth of 22 miles between the two outer headlands of
Coseguina and Amapala. The narrowest of the four navigable passages by which
it communicates with the sea is about two miles wide between the Conchagua
and Conchaguita volcanoes, with a mean depth of about 40 feet. Within these
passages the gulf develops several secondary inlets, such as those of L'Estero Real
and La Union, the former penetrating south-eastwards into Nicaragua, the latter
north-westwards into Salvador. Above the surface rise several reefs and islands,
conspicuous amongst which is the symmetrical cone of Tiger Island. Notwith-
standing its great extent, the Gulf of Fonseca is too shallow to be regarded as a
marine basin ; it is probably little more than a flooded depression, nowhere more
than ten fathoms deep, and navigable only by vessels of moderate draught.

Climate, Fi-ora, Fauna.

Owing to its mean elevation of at least 3,000 feet above the sea, Honduras
enjoys a comparatively temperate climate, though the low-lying coastlands are
oppressively hot and insalubrious. The Atlantic seaboard especially suffers from
the excess of moisture brought by the vapour-charged trade winds. Here the
mean temperature ranges from 75° to 82° Fahr., whereas it is scarcely more than
68° at the capital, Tegucigalpa, which stands at an altitude of 3,320 feet. Accord-
ing to Squier, the annual rainfall on the Atlantic slope is about 120 inches.

The Central American flora and fauna differ in details only at their two
exiremities, the isthmuses of Tehuantepec and Darien. But here and there sharp
transitions occur between the species, and in certain regions the secondary
differences between the various orffanic forms are more numerous than elsewhere.
Such is the case in central Honduras, where the Humuya and Goascoran valleys
with the intermediate depression constitute a natural biological parting-line. Hero
the flora and fauna on either side often present remarkable contrasts. One of the
characteristic Honduras trees is the pine, which occurs in all the upland districts,
and even on both slopes down to the vicinity of the Pacific coast. But here it

INHABITAXTS OF HONDURAS. 261

does not reach lower than an altihiclc of about 1,250 feet, whereas on the Atlantic
slopes, especially on the plains of Sula, it descends as low as 250 feet, while along
the watercourses of Truxillo it is dotted over the savannas like the clumj^s of trees
characteristic of English scenery.

IxilAlilTAMS,

About three-fourths of the population of Honduras appear to be Laiinos, or
more or loss civilised Hispano-American half-castes. The pure Indian element
scarcely numbers 70,000 altogether, and CA'en these " wild tribes " now live at
peace with their Spanish-speaking rulers, and recognise their authority. To the
Spanish conquerors their forefathers had offered a brave and steadfast resistance,
and those of the interior at least escaped extermination, whereas most of those
dwelling on the coastlands, or along the navigable rivers, were carried away by the
corsairs, to perish on the plantations of the West Indies.

In the western parts of the republic the natives are of the same speech as those
of Guatemala. Such are the Chorti of Copan, kinsmen of the Pokoman Mayas.
The most remarkable historic ruins of Honduras have been discovered in their
territory, and the builders of these monuments are supposed to have been the
ancestors of the Indians still inhabiting the district. Hence the Chorti were
probably fully as civilised as the Aztecs and ilayas, and even if the other natives
of Honduras have left no such monuments, they were all at least settled agricul-
turists and skilled artisans. Various Aztec geographical terms occurring in south
Honduras show that Aztec was regarded as the language of culture in a pre-
eminent sense.

At present the Honduras Indians are collectively designated by the name of
Lencas. Tillages exclusively inhabited by them are scattered over the plateau, and
are met even in the neighbourhood of the two capitals, Comayagua and Teguci-
galpa. To the same stock belong the Xicacs (Hicacos), the Payas and the Toacas
of the northern slopes and Atlantic coastlands.

AU resemble each other in their low stature, thickset frames, and extraordinary
staying power as carriers of heavy loads. The Toacas, who occupy the upper
afEuents of the Patuca, and who shoot the dangerous rapids of that river in their
light but firm ^j)};rt«/es of cedar-wood, also produce excellent cotton or wild silk
fabrics interwoven with the down of birds. They speak a dialect different from
that of the other Lencas, as do also the Xicacs, who number about 5,000 and keep
quite aloof from the Ladinos.

The Payas or Poyas of the Rio Negro near Cape Cameron have preserved their
patriarchal customs ; like the Pueblo Indians of 'New ^Mexico and Arizona, they still
dwell in large oval houses about 80 feet long by 30 feet broad, in which each family
has its own apartments. The Payas, like all the other natives, call themselves
Catholics, but this formal profession of faith is merely an act of submission to the
dominant white race.

After the extermination of the coast Indians negroes became niunerous along
the seaboard. About the beginning of the seventeenth century a large slaver was

262 MEXICO, CENTRAL AMERICA, WEST INDIES.

said to have been stranded near Cape Gracias-a-Dios, and the Africans, escaping
from the wreck, founded a petty republican state in the district. Later they were
joined by other fugitives from the "West Indies ; then some English planters
introduced slaves and founded settlements in the hope of conquering the country.
Gradually transformed by interminglings, the whole of this black population
consisted at the end of the last century mainly of Sambos, that is, negro and
Indian half-breeds. They were numerous, especially about the lower Patuca and
the neighbouring Brus and Caratasca lagoons ; but a great invasion drove most of
them southwards to the Mosquito Coast in Nicaragua.

The invaders were themselves exiles, some 5,000 Carib Indians removed in
1796 by the English from St. Yincent to Roatan, one of the Bay Islands. Many
remained as fishers and gardeners on this and other members of the group, but the
majority accepted the offer made them by the Spanish Government of some lands
near Trusillo on the Honduras coast. These Carib exiles from St. Yincent have
gradually become the dominant race, not only in the Baj' Islands, but along the
whole of the Honduras and Guatemalan seaboard, as well as throughout the
southern part of British Honduras. They are at present estimated at about
20,000, and are a thriving industrious people, many already owning sugar and
tobacco plantations besides local factories.

Nearly all are more or less famihar with three languages, English, Spanish,
and their West Indian mother-tongue, which, however, appears to be dying out.
But while these communities are being gradually assimilated to the surrounding
Europcauised popidations, there are many other Honduras Caribs who, while
callui" themselves " Cristianos," still retain many of the usages of their pagan
ancestors. They practise polygamy on the condition of assigning to each wife
her separate establishment, cottage, and garden, and treating all exactly alike.

On the Atlantic coast of Honduras, the English and Indian half-castes are the
most numerous element, and a more or less corrupt form of English is the
dominant language in many districts. This is partly due to the neighbourhood
of Belize, partly also to the repeated attempts made by the English Government to
acquire formal possession of the whole seaboard. In the last century the Jamaica
freebooters had become masters of the Eio Negro (Tinto or Poya), where their
plantations were protected by a fort, which, however, they had to evacuate in
virtue of the treaty of Yersailles.

But they attempted to return, as they had returned to Belize, and after seizing
the Bay Islands, spoke of Roatan as a " new Gibraltar," the " key to Spanish
America," and so forth. In 1819 Sir Gregor Macgregor, who had become cacique
of the Payas, settled on the Rio Negro and founded a paper kingdom embracing a
great part of Honduras and Nicaragua. Again in 1839 an English company, heirs
to the Scottish cacique, endeavoured to appropriate the Atlantic slope of Honduras
by founding the new province of " Yictoria," with its capital, Fort "William, over
against the Bay Islands. But all these attempts at gaining a footing in Honduras
were brought to a close by the intervention of the United States in 1850, when the
disputed territories were restored to Hondvu-as.

TOPOGEAPHY OF nONDUEAS. 263

Topography.

Copan, which has given its name to the westernmost department of the
republic, has become famous for the surrounding ruins, which were first described
in 1576 by Palacio in a report to Philip II. They were then forgotten till the
present century, when they were again visited and described hy Galindo, Stephens,
and Catherwood. The chief building rises to a height of GO, and in some parts
even 100 feet on the banks of the River Copan, three-quarters of a mile to the east
of the village. Since its erection the river has evidently shifted its bed farther
south, where it has eroded the base of the edifice. Trees also spring from the
fissures in the masonry, while the summits are entirely clothed in vegetation.
An opening, to which the j^ile is indebted for its Spanish name of Las Vcutanas,
the " Windows," reveals the dense thicket now filling the inner courts of the temple.

The irregular enclosing walls on the sides away from the river are flanked by
pyramids, and interrupted by broad flights of steps, mostly forced upwards by the
roots of trees. The numerous idols, which have also been displaced or else half
buried in foliage, consist of sandstone monoliths, carved with a profusion of details
unsurpassed by those of the Hindu temples. The central figure, of colossal size,
but carefully modelled, is surrounded by reliefs of all kinds, ornaments, symbols,
and hieroglj-phics, difi^ering little from those covering the Maya monuments.
The huge blocks described as altars are for the most part less elaborately
embellished than the vertical steles of the idols ; but most of them reproduce the
type of high heads, prominent jaws, and receding foreheads figured on the temples
of Tabasco and Yucatan.

Still more remarkable is a semicircular altar, exactly like the fai-l;i of the
Chinese, sj-mbolising the " great vault," the " pole of the world," the union of
force and matter, the principle without beginning or end.

The whole group of ruins stretches for some miles along the river, and an
eminence 2,000 feet high on the opposite side is also crowned with crumbling
walls, while huge blocks, intended for fresh structures, have been left unfinished
in the surrounding quarries. The village of Cachapa, seven miles above Copan,
also occupies the site of a ruined city.

Santa Rosa, capital of the department of Copan, lies in the fertile district of
Sensenti, which is watered by the Santiago branch of the Ulua, and which yields
the best tobacco in Honduras. The Majocote afiluent of the same river traverses
Gracias, which is also the capital of a department abounding in mineral w'ealth.
Gracias was founded by Alvarado's lieutenant, Chavez, in 1536.

Santa Bavhara, on a lateral tributary of the Santiago, is the chief town of the
favoured department which comprises the rich plain of Sula, the alluvial lauds
of the lower Ulua and Chamelicon, and the best ports on the Atlantic coast. But
the Sula district, densely peopled before the conquest, is now almost deserted,
though the town of San Pedro de Sula, on the west side of the plain, is the most
important agricultural centre in the state.

The chief seaports in the department of Santa Barbara, and on the whole sea-

264

MEXICO, CENTEAL AMERICA, WEST INDIES.

board on the Atlantic side, are Puerto Cortes and Omoa, both of which lie to the
west of the Ulua and Chamelicon estuaries. Puerto Cortes owes its name to the
Mexican conqueror, who founded it at the time of his Honduras expedition ; but
it is now more commonly known as Puerto Caballos. The harbour is enclosed by
a tongue of land projecting westwards, and sheltering it from the winds and surf
of the high seas. This spacious and deep basin might easily be greatly enlarged

Pig-. 113.— Ptteeto Coetes and Lake Aivaeabo.

Scale 1 : 60.000.

SnndB exposed
at low water.

Uepcbs.

0 to 5 Stathoms

Fathoms. and upwiirda-

—^ 1, ICO Yards.

by the Alvarado lagoon, with which it already communicates through a channel
about six feet deep.

But despite its manifold advantages, Puerto Caballos, being exposed to the attacks
of the buccaneers, was long abandoned for the more ea.sily protected port of Omoa,
which is approached by a narrow passage six miles farther west. Now, however,
Puerto Caballos has resumed its former importance as the terminus of a railway run-
ning southwards to San Pedro de Sula for Comayagua, and eventually for the Pacific
coast. Naco, famous at the time of the conquest, has disappeared, but it probably
stood at the mouth of the Chamelicon,

TOPOGRAPHY OF HOXDUEAS. 265

Puerto Sal and Tn'unfo, lying east of the Ulua, are merely exposed roadsteads,
followed by the much more frequented port of Progreso, which is formed hx an
indentation on the south side of Eoatan Island, penfectly sheltered from all
winds, but a hotbed of deadly fevers.

Truxillo, founded in 1524, and chosen as the capital of the new department of
Colon, is also well protected from the trade winds by a promontory disposed, like
that of Puerto Caballos, from east to west, and enclosing a basia accessible to the
largest vessels. But the town is a mere collection of huts, inhabited by a few
hundred Caribs, who are engaged in the export trade of mahogany, sarsaparilla,
cattle, hides, and other produce brought down by convoys of mules from the mag-
nificent province of Olancho.

This highly-favoured upland region, watered by the headstreams of the Patuca
and Eomano rivers, enjoys a perfectly salubrious climate ; its soil is extremely
fertile, forest glades and woodlands alternating with rich arable tracts and
savannas under succulent herbage, while copious streams flow through every
valley, washing down auriferous sands from the wooded and picturesque slopes of
the encircling heights. On an affluent of the Patuca stands the little town of
JutigaljM, and in the neighbourhood the Indian village of Cafacamas, the products
of whose industry might be forwarded northwards by the Eomano Yalley to
Truxillo, south-westwards by the mountain passes leading down to the Gioluteca
Yalley, and north-westwards by the Patuca river, accessible to the Carib canoes
to the port of Belon, within a few leagues of Jutigalpa. Yet, with all its
exceptional advantages, this glorious region is stUl almost deserted. For the whole
of the extensive department of Olancho, the last census returned a population of
little over 30,000, while that of Colon, comprising all the noith-west comer of
Honduras, is occupied by less than 3,000 natives ; altogether scarcely 35,000 in
a region where millions might easily be supported without any overcrowding, as
in some of the "\Yest India Islands under the same latitude.

Comai/agiia, chief town of the department of like name, and former capital of
the republic, stands at an altitude of 2,000 feet on an extensive plain about mid-
way between the two oceans. Founded in 1540 by Alonzo Caceres, Niiera Val/a-
dolid, as it was fonnerly called, was a prosperous city of nearly 20,000 inhabitants
before the year 1827, when it was besieged, taken, and sacked by the Guatemalan
" Serviles." It never recovered from that blow, and at present its chief attractions
are the numerous ruins of ancient cities by which it is everywhere surrounded.
Of these the most remarkable is Tenamjiua (Piieb/o Viejo), standing on a lofty
eminence nearly 20 miles south-east of Comayagua, and comprising within its
enclosures a number of apparently religious edifices, pyramids, terraces, sculptures,
and much painted pottery.

West of the department of La Paz, whose present capital, La Paz, stands on the
site of the ancient city of Las Piedras, the chief place towards the Salvador frontier
is Esperanza, not far from the famous Erandique opal mines. Xear Virtiid, in the
same hiUy district of Intibucat, is seen the remarkable cave of the " Agua de
Sangre," a red fluid which coagulates as it falls and then putrefies, emitting an

266 MEXICO, CENTRAL AMERICA, WEST INDIES.

odour of blood. Tho liquid, which owes its colour and peculiar properties to the
living organisms contained in it, affords a certain nourishment to birds and other
animals.

The most densely-peopled part of Honduras is the basia of the Choluteca river,
which descends to the Pacific at the Gulf of Fonseca. The iipper portion of the
basin, which forms a natural transition between Salvador and Nicaragua west and
east, comprises the department of Tegucigalpa, which gives its name to the present
capital of the republic. This place almost suddenly acquired great importance in
the year 1762 as the centre of a region abounding in gold and silver mines.
Between 1778 and 1819 the Tegucigalpa district yielded nearly £40,000,000 to
the trade of the world, and mining operations, interrupted by wars, revolutions,
and oscillations in the value of the precious metals, have in recent times again
been actively resumed.

Teo^ucigalpa, chosen in 1880 as the seat of congress, and even designated as a
future capital of the Central American Confederation, is by far the largest place in
the republic, and is increasing from year to year. It rises in amphitheatrical form
at the foot of a steep mountain on the right bank of the Choluteca, which is here
crossed by a ten-arched bridge. Concepcion, on the opposite side of the river,
forms an integral part of the city.

Two other departments, also abounding in mineral resources, are comprised
within the Choluteca basin. One of those, whose capital, Yuscaran, dates from the
middle of the eighteenth century, has received the well-merited designation of
Paraiso, or "Paradise," while the other takes the name of the river and of the
Indian nation dwelling on its banks ; Choluteca, its capital, on the left side of
the estuary, was the Xo-es de la Fronfera of the early settlers.

Nacaomc, on the river of like name, which also flows into the Gulf of Fonseca,
but much farther west, is noted for its mineral waters. Its port of San Lorenzo
stands at the northern extremity of the inlet of like name, where shipping finds
good anchorage in depths of 22 to 24 feet close to the shore. One of the projected
interoceanic railways has its terminus at this port ; another is carried over the Rio
Nacaome near its mouth, and, after crossing the marshy backwaters between
Gueo-ensi and Sacate Grande and the mainland, terminates on the west side of the
latter island over against a vast roadstead some 20 square miles in extent, and
from 30 to 50 feet deep, close to the future terminus.

Pending the construction of this important line, Amapala, the seaport of
Honduras on the Pacific, stands on the north-west side of Tiger Island, at one time
a stronghold of tho buccaneers. Sacate Grande and Tiger Islands both belonged
formerly to Salvador, which allowed Honduras to occupy them in 1833 in return
for her co-operation in tho local wars.

Economic Condition of Honduras.
Although fully one-half of Honduras is still almost a vast solitude, its popu-
lation has increased at least threefold since the beginning of the century. The
first census, taken in 1791, gave a population of 95,500, while the last (June,

■ ■

..♦*v

>'.V/,

.«•.

•'.'O

'•*^ v/«>*^*'*7 '•'.••>*/.%-'• •^•^

'# ■ «•

ECONOMIC COXDinOX OF HONDURAS.

267

1887) returned a total of 332,000, of whom nearly three-fourths were Ladinos.
The stream of immigration has not yet been directed to the state, and in the
whole country there are scarcely 500 foreigners, apart from the so-caUed "English"
immigrants from Belize and Jamaica.

Honduras has developed no industries, and even its agricultural produce
scarcely suflSces for more than the local demand. The banana, caoutchouc and
coffee plantations have, however, in recent years acquired some importance, while
the tobacco of Copan and Santa Rosa has long been appreciated. Xext to gold
and silver, the chief staple of the export trade was timber, especially the

Fig. 114. — FoNSECA Bay.

Scale 1 : 1,C«0.0C0.

West-oF GreenwicK

Otoo
FaUxoma.

Deptas.

5 to 12

Fathoms.

12 Fathoms
and upwards.

, IS iines.

mahogany, which reaches its greatest perfection in the forests of Honduras.
But the finest trees have been recklessly felled without any attempt at replanting,
and as maho<ninv takes three himdred vears to arrive at matuiitv, the sources of
supply threaten to be soon exhausted.

The Honduras exchanges are estimated at a yearly value of about £1,200,000,
the exports consisting of minerals, cattle, and products of the soU, the imports
almost exclusively of manufactured goods. Five-sixths of the foreign trade is
carried on with the United States.

Owing to the reckless speculations connected with railway projects the name
of Hondiu-as has become one of the most notorious in the financial world. Of

268

MEXICO, CENTEAL AMERICA, WEST INDIES.

£5,200,000 borrowed in recent years ostensibly to construct interoceanic and
other lines, not more than £700,000 were actually expended on railway works.
Hence Honduras is naturally unable to meet her engagements, however reluctant
she may be to repudiate them. No doubt the revenue continues to increase, but
it is drawn chiefly from the ciistoms and monopolies on gunpowder, spirits, and
tobacco, which do not admit of raj)id expansion. The public debt with arrears of
interest amounted in 1890 to £7,645,000, representing over forty years of normal

Fig'. 115.— CoMPAEATiTE Debts of Vakious States

£200,000

Hawaii

S. African Rep.

OO.OOO

Nicarasuii

Gi.Ki.iXlO

Su'itzeilitiHl .,

1.210,000

Salvador

1. -100.000

Co3ta-K,ic;i

2,(>r(.(00

Haiti

2.7'-K).(»00

S. Domingo

S.SOO.IKKI

2,900.000

4,200,000

Paraguay

4.7C0,lX)0

China

5,(Ji)ii,O00

Colombia

\ i2,it*:'.ooo

Honduras

1 ,. 13.L>4<',000
1 IJ-SOillMKl

Uruguay .... 1 i-'"' Ain Ofto I

Chili

1 ... 19.o2i).<XX)

1 m.'i'^IHVW

Greece ^ ai.ftWdOO !

Mexico

~ . 2t3,120.(H)0

Koumnuia

,,. ai,04i 1.000

Peru

1 . 63,<^),0«)

Argentine .

„ . . se.ooo.iwo

Japan

62,n(Ri.i)oO

Germany . ^

__ . oo.5g;j.i-oo

Portugal

1 122.M0,000

Brazil

', - . 123,080,000

^ 224,000,000

1 .... 208.000.000

United States i

Spain i. ■

Italv 1

1 , - 45i.000.(l00

Russia i ^

_ ., 473,060,000

Austria-Hunifiiry i, _„ _

' 600.000.000

.._ . _ esfi.jjxtnoo

f/////M>^,.'//.Ay. , ■ j I'ranci.' i-I,2i^^,7-_\i,IM->. [ ■ . ' , .^//^

revenue and about £40 per head of the population. As no interest has been paid
since 1872, the state is virtually bankrupt.

The interoceanic railway, which served as the pretext for this formidable debt,
is far from being finished. The only completed section, about 56 miles, or one-
fourth of the whole length, runs from Puerto Caballos across the Sula plain, where
no heavy engineering works had to be executed. To finish the whole line a new
company had to be formed, fresh surveys taken, and attempts made to raise
more money. But the £8,000,000 required to complete this and other lines
from Puerto Caballos to Truxillo, and thence to Jutigalpa, have not yet been sub-
scribed.

Meanwhile carriage-roads are projected for the transport of heavy goods

ECONOMIC CO>n)ITIOX OF HOMDUEAS.

269

over the mountain passes between the Atlantic and Pacific slopes. The
two main highways are the interoceanic route through Comavagua, and
that running from Sensenti through Intibucat, La Paz, and Tegucigalpa to
Jutigalpa.

The postal and telegraph services are still iu their infancy compared with
those of Mexico, as might be expected in a country where the great mass of the
population is still absolutely imlettered. In 1887 not more than 19,000 adults

Fig. 116. — Debt pee Head of PoprLAxios ra Vawous Cottsteies.

Cnina

Libena

Swiaerland r

Xonray — -

S> 0 3

» * 2

0 8 8

13 8

19 7

112 8

-\ ... 1 13 4

-i 2 SU

-, - S S 3

3 18

Japan ^-

Xicaraziui —
Salrailor .. .

Mexico -^-

Boiiria —

Sw&lea .... --

Haiti

Gotttemali

Ecuador ....

Colombia .. : —

Turkey — -

United Stntes ' —

S. Afrlca!i K?p. \ —

Russia i —

- 3 110

3 2 1
3 2 6
3 6 1

— ; 3 6 6

— , .. 3 7 1
— ^ .. 3U 2
— ; .434
— ■ .480

Denmark ;=

; 5 12 6

Trnly

\ ;i™ »

11 9 *

H 0 1ft

Spain

Belmnm

16 13 4

-. 17 7 3

Peru - .'. . f

^ 21 8 4

P'TTiinl p ., '

could read and write, and only 74,000 children were receiving any kind of
education. In the same year the periodical press was limited to four journals.

The government of Honduras differs only in a few minor details from those
of the other Central American republics. The constitution has been frequently
modified between the years 1824 and 1883, during which period as many as forty-
eight rulers have succeeded under various titles to the supreme power. In normal
times the president is elected for four years by universal suffrage, and is assisted
by a council of seven ministers for foreign affairs, the interior, public works, war,
finance, public iastruction, and justice. The legislative functions are discharged
by a congress of 37 members returned by the various departments in proportion
to the population.

270

MEXICO, CENTRAL .iMEEICA, WEST IKDIES.

The armj' consists legally of all able-bodied unmarried men between the ages
of twenty and twenty-five, regulars and reserves comprising altogether about
25,000 of all arms. Usually, however, there are scarcely more than 500 engaged
in garrison duty.

For administrative purposes the republic is divided into thirteen departments,
for which see Appendix.

V. — Nicaragua.

Nicaragua is the largest, but relatively the least densely-peopled, of all the
Central American states. Yet within its limits is found the true centre of the

Fig. 117.— Teeeitoey clahted at Vaeiou3 Times by Geeat Beitain.
Scale 1 : 17,000,000.

4^ -^

.Eleivfields
-- iS.Juan.J,! Norl-

West of" b^eenvvicK

. 310 Milea.

isthmian region, and one of the cardinal points in the history of the New "World.
This privileged region is the narrow strip of territory comprised between the
Pacific and the shores of Lakes Managua and Nicaragua. Here reigned the famous
cacique, Nicarao, whose name has been perpetuated in a Spanish form as that of
the Ilispano-American republic.

Like Honduras, Nicaragua suffered much from the incursions of the corsairs
on its Atlantic side, and here, also. Great Britain long sought to secure a perma-
nent footing. The section of the seaboard known as Mosquitia, or the Mosquito
Coast, was even claimed by the English Government, and but for the intervention
of the United States, the whole space comprised between the Nicaragua Eiver and
Honduras Bay would have become British territory. In virtue of the Monroe
doctriue, " America for the Americans," this territory was restored to the republic

NICAEAGUA. 271

of Nicaragua, though its independence was again threatened in 1855 by the
American National party itself. In that year the American adventurer, Walker,
one of those men " who have all the qualities required for the throne or the
gibbet," came to the aid of one of the native factions with over 12,000 filibusters,
who were to be rewarded with extensive grants of land for their future victories.

After a first repulse at the town of Rivas, Walker seized Granada, the chief
city of the republic, and secured the election of his nominee to the presidential
chair. Slavery was then revived, and an attempt made to attract capitalists with
the view of converting Nicaragua into one vast plantation, on the model of the
" Cotton States," such as Mississippi and South Carolina. But all the peoples of
Central America had already taken the alarm, and a league was formed against
the filibusters. From the south came the Costa Ricaus, from the north the
Guatemalans, and the Nicaraguans themselves having also revolted, the adventurer
was driven from port to port, and at last compelled to take refuge in Rivas,. where,
after a four-months' siege, he had to capitulate in 1857. Though his life was
spared, he twice attempted to return to Central America, but having fallen into
the hands of the Hondurans, he was executed as a filibuster at Truxillo, in the
year 1860.

This failure was of more than local importance ; it was the first success of the
abolitionist party in America itself. " I have defended the cause of the slave-
holders abroad," said Walker when dying ; " they will soon have to defend it
themselves In their own sugar and cotton fields."

Since that critical epoch, Nicaragua has pursued a more tranquil course of
development than the sister states. There has been a general increase of popula-
tion and wealth without involving the usual consequences of civil discord and
revolutions. Even the troublesome questions of boundaries have led to nothing
more serious than diplomatic discussions with Honduras and Costa Rica, discus-
sions which were finally settled by the mediation of the United States Government,
appealed to as arbitrator.

Apart from a few slight deviations, the two bold lines traced on the map, on
one side by the course of the Rio Segovia, on the other by the southern shore of
Lake Nicaragua and the bed of the Rio San Juan, are regarded as the frontiers
of Nicaragua towards Honduras on the north and Costa Rica on the south.

Physical Features.

The Nicaraguan main range forms a south-eastern continuation of the Chile
Mountains in Honduras, running parallel with the Pacific coast, with peaks
ranging from over 3,000 to 4,000 feet In height. The chain falls gradually-
southwards, rising to a mean altitude of scarcely more than 650 or 700 feet along
the east side of Lake Nicaragua. This irregular system may be roughly regarded
as the escarpment of an ancient plateau falling abruptly westwards, and Inclining
eastwards to the Atlantic through a long declivity disposed by the running waters
in numerous divergent valleys. Those of north Nicaragua run north-east

272 MEXICO, CENTEAL zVMliEICA, WEST INJJlES.

parallel witli tlie E,io Segovia, and those of the centre due east, while those of the
south, as, for instance, the valley traversed by the Rio San Juan, have a south-
easterly trend.

In several places these fragmentary sections of the plateau present the aspect
of distinct sierras. Such are, iu the north, the Sierra de Yeluca, and in the
south that of Yolaina, which terminates seawards in the Punta ilico, the Monkey
Point of English writers. Amongst the various foot-hills of the main range,
there is one ridge which had passed unnoticed by all goographei's till indicated
for the first time by the naturalist Belt, in 1874, when it attracted universal
attention owing to the curious resemblance of its name to that of the New World
itself. This is the little Sierra d'Amerrique, near Libertad, otherwise remarkable
for its sheer rockj^ walls, its obelisks and huge isolated crags. The name of the
continent has now been connected by M. Marcou with these hitherto unknown
rugged heights, the theory being that Amerigo Vespucci and other early naviga-
tors hoard the natives speak of the hills in question as abounding in treasures, and
then applied the term to the whole region ; thereupon it occurred to Amerigo to
turn to his personal glory the accidental resemblance of this name to his own.

The Sierra d'Amerrique, called also Amerisque and Amerrisque from a local
tribe said to have been formerly powerful, lies in the territory of the ancient
Lencas, as is shown by the ending riqm generally occurring in the Honduras
regions inhabited by these Indians.

West of the Nicaraguan main range, the region facing the Pacific was originally
an extensive low-lj'ing plain, where the underground forces have raised two lines
of eminences, or even mountains, some isolated, others forming veritable chains.
The first of these ranges is so inconspicuous that, when seen from the plain, it seems
merged in the chain disposed immediately to the east of it. Its indistinct cha-
racter is due to the fact that the volcanoes have been upheaved on the very flanks
of the plateau. Thus Guisisil (4,550 feet) rises in close proximity to the Mata-
galpa Mountains, and by damming up the waters formerly descending to the
Pacific, has deflected them through the Rio Grande eastwards to the Atlantic.

South-west of Guisisil, loftiest of these volcanoes, other cones have emerged
along the depression which is flooded by the two Lakes Managua and Nicaragua ;
here the Cerro de la Palma, Cuisaltepe, Juigalpa, Platotepe, Pan de Azucar, Jaen,
Picara and the Ventanillas are all disposed in a line running close to the east side
of the great reservoir.

But far more important in the geological history of the country are the peaks
of the main range, which forms a continuation of the Salvador volcanic system.
The truncated cone of Coseguina, at the southern entrance of the Gulf of Fonseca
■opposite Conchagua, is the first link in this igneous chain ; it still rises 3,860 feet
above the sea, but according to Belcher, the regular cone must have been at least
double that height. Before the Krakatau explosion, Coseguina was usually referred
to with Timboro, of Sumbawa Island, as a typical example of the tremendous catas-
trophes caused by the sudden escape of gases pent up in the bowels of the earth.
On January 20, 1835, the summit of Coseguina was blown to atoms, day was

PHYSICAJ. FEATURES OF NICAR/VGUA.

273

changed to night for a space of several hundred square miles, the sea was covered
with a dense layer of ashes and scoriae arresting the progress of ships for a distance
of over 25 miles from the volcano, all verdure disappeared under a bed of dust at
least 16 feet thick, and the very shoreline encroached on the ocean and on the Gulf
of Fonseca. Westwards the trade winds wafted the dust 1,380 miles across the sea,
eastwards the counter-current precipitated it on Honduras, Yucatan, and Jamaica,

Fipr- 118- — MoMEACHO Volcano and Shobes op Lake Nicaeaoua.

while the aerial eddies carried the ashes southwards to New Grenada. The crash
of the ruptured mountain was heard on the Bogota uplands, a distance of over
1,000 miles as the crow flies. Altogether the ashes fell on a space of about
1,600,000 square miles, while the erupted matter was estimated at 1,750 billions of
cubic feet. The explosion lasted forty- three hours, but the people of the sur-
rounding plains had time to escape, with their domestic animals, followed by
wild beasts, birds and reptiles, beyond the reach of the stifling gases.

Some 30 miles south-east of Coseguina rises the twin-crested mass of the

VOL. XVII. T

274 MEXICO, CEXTEAL AMEPJCA, "WEST INDIES.

extinct Chonco and Viejo (6,300 feet) cones, beyond whicli follows tlie Marrabios
range of peaks, mostly little over 3,000 feet, but culminating about the centre of
tbe system in Telica, 4,200 feet bigh. Somewbat east of tbe Marrabios tbe series
of volcanoes is continued by tbe majestic Momotombo (6,150 feet), wbose base
forms a promontory in Lake Managua, and wbicb bas been in eruption so recently
as 1852. Formerly tbe missionaries baptised tbe burning mountains, but some
monks wbo bad undertaken to plant tbe cross on Momotombo never returned.

Cbiltepec (2,800 feet), wbicb rises out of tbe very waters of Managua, is
followed by some less elevated cones on tbe mainland, wbere tbey are in close
proximity to lagoons evidently at one time forming part of tbe lake. About
midwaj' between tbe two basins stands tbe famous Masaya (2,800 feet), wbicb was
formerly known to the Spaniards by tbe name of Infierno, " Hell," and wbicb in
pre-Columbian times was said to bave borne tbe name of Popocatepetl, like tbe
Mexican giant.

Masaya, tbat is, tbe "Burning Mountain," was first ascended by Oviedo, wbo
saw its crater filled with boiling lavas. At that time slight eruptions occurred
at almost regular intervals of fifteen minutes, and the yellow fluid bubbling up on
the bed of tbe crater was supposed to be molten gold. Two Spanish monks, accom-
panied by three fellow-countrj-men and many Indians, having failed to secure any
of the precious liquid, it occurred to Juan Alvarez, dean of tbe chapter of Leon,
to tap the perennial stream by means of a tunnel driven through the flank of the
moimtain. But before the work could be seriously taken in hand, Masaya boUed
over of its own accord in 1772, and since then it has been quiescent, except in 1852
when it ejected a few jets of vapour. But in 1856, Nindiri, a parasitic crater on
its flank, discharged large quantities of vapour.

Mombacho (4,600 feet), which stands on tbe same pedestal as Masaya, but on
tbe north-west shore of Lake Nicaragua, has long been extinct. But its former
energy is attested by tbe surrounding lava streams and by tbe Corales, a cluster of
eruptive islets encircling its submerged base.

South-west of Mombacho the volcanic chain is continued In the lake itself, first
by Zapatera (2,000 feet), and then by the large twin-crested island of Ometepe
tbat is, the Mexican- Aztec Ome-tepetl, " Two Mountains," 5,360 and 4,200 feet
respectively. The summit of Ometepe is crowned by a flooded crater, and on the
flank of tbe mountain is a still larger crater overgrown with dense vegetation.
From the top of the mountain a wide prospect is commanded of the whole lake,
the narrow isthmus separating it from the Pacific, and the amphitheatre of bills
sweeping round the eastern horizon.

"West of the two lakes the isthmus constituting Nicaragua proper has also its
little coast-range, of moderate elevation and interrupted by numerous gaps.
Venturon, the culminating crest, is only 800 feet high, while the lowest pass
scarcely stands more than 25 or 26 feet above the level of the lake, which at the
narrowest point is rather less than 13 miles from the Pacific. In many places,
the isthmian region is entirelj' covered by the so-called ialpdatc or tepdate, that is,
eruptive matter deposited under the influence of the prevailing south-west trade

FvIYEES OF NICAEAGUA.

27d

winds. The consequence is that this region is destitute of springs or streams,
all the rain water disappearing in the porous masses of scoriae and ashes.

KI^^!Rs AXD Lakes.

Although the Nicaraguan backbone is developed east of the lacustrine depres-
sion, the narrow strip of land limiting Lake Nicaragua on the west side is the
true waterparting of the whole region. The streams descending from the western

Fig. 119. — IsTHiros or Eivas.

Scale 1 : 1.200.000.

V/est oF Greenwich

8S°AQ'

Deptlis.

5 Fatnoms
and upwards.

18 Hilcs.

slopes of the Chontal Mountains do not flow to the Pacific, but after a winding
course fi.nd their way to the Caribbean Sea. The pretended law that makes
watersheds coincide with mountain ranges is nowhere more clearly contradicted.

The parting-line, however, which is formed by the isthmus sends down
nothing but rivulets on its west slope. The only Nicaraguan rivers that reach the
Pacific have their sources on the opposite flank of the Marrabios hills, and flow to
the Gulf of Fonseca. Such are the Estero Real, rising in the neighbourhood of

276

MEXICO, CENTRAL AMERICA, WEST INDIES.

Lake Managua, and, farther north, the Rio Negro, which has become the frontier
towards Honduras.

Both of these watercourses have frequently shifted their beds, owing partly to
the erupted matter damming up their channels, and forming islands and peninsulas,
partly also, perhaps, to seismic disturbances. Since the eruption of Coseguina
in 1835 the Rio Negro has changed its course no less than four times, and at

Fig'. 120.- TnE NiOAEAQUA- WATEErAKTIXG.
Scale 1 : S.orio.OOO

'yS^^ii'''~^' '1^^ ^'

West oF breenwich

GO ALUes.

present it intermingles its waters with those of the Estero Real in a common
delta.

The most copious river in north Nicaragua flows, under a great diversity of
names, from the Matagalpa moimtains through the broadest part of the state down
to the Atlantic near Cape Gracias-a-Dios. About its sources, within 50 miles of
the Pacific, it is known as the Somoro, and lower down successively as the Cabrugal
(Cabullal), the Coco (Cocos), Oro (Yoro, Yare), Portillo Liso, Tapacac, Encuentro,
Pantasma, Segovia, from a town on its banks, and Gracias, or Cape River, from
the low peninsula it has formed where it reaches the coast. It also takes the name

EIVEBS OF NICARAGFA. 277

of Herbias, while the English call itTVanks or Yankes, this confusing nomenclature
being due partly to the different languages current along its banks, partly to the
lack of historic unity of the fluvial basin. "While the Spanish colonists were
settling in the upper ralleys of the Eio Segovia, foreign corsairs of every nation
were infesting its lower course.

Pent in between mountain ranges, the "Wanks drains a relatively narrow basin,
but, being exposed to the moist east winds, it is a copious stream accessible to small
craft for a distance of about 170 miles below the rapids. At its mouth it projects
its delta far seawards between banks of a reddish alluvium washed down from
the upper valleys. The "Wanks drains an area of nearly 12,000 square miles,
has a course of 400 miles, and a mean discharge of 17,000 cubic feet per
second.

Between this river and the San Juan, the largest watercourse is the Eio
Grande, whose main branch, the ilatagalpa, probably at one time flowed west to
Lake Managua. But having been dammed up by the heaps of scorise ejected
from GuisisU, its course was deflected southwards and eastwards to the Atlantic.
In one part of its valley it takes the name of Bulbul, while the Sambos of
ilosquitia call it Awaltara. At its mouth it communicates through lateral
channels with other watercourses, and according to Levy's chart there is a con-
tinuous series of backwaters, false rivers, and passages extending for about 250
miles from Cape Gracias-a-Dios to the Blewfields lagoon, separated from the sea
by a strip of sandy beaches and mangrove thickets. Most of these waters are
narrow and obstructed by islands ; but the Pearl Cay and Blewfields lagoons are
veritable inland seas, in parts overgrown by mangroves, but still leaving vast
spaces open to navigation. The Blewfields basin, said to be so named from a Dutch
corsair, BKeveldt, receives a river of like name, called also the Eio Escondido
about its middle course.

From the geological standpoint the present coast between Cape Gracias-a-Dios
and Monkey Point indicates a state of transition between the old shoreline, that
is, the west side of the lagoons, and the great Mosquito Bank, which advances
seawards for a variable distance of fi'om 30 to 100 miles and which comprises
numerous submerged and upheaved cays. One of these reefs is the Mosquito Cay,
which has given its name to the whole bank, a name afterwards extended to the
east coast itself and its inhabitants. Some of the islands on or near the outer
margin of the banks are large and elevated enough to support a few settlements.
Such are Tieja Providencia and San Andres, which belong politically to the
Eepublic of Colombia, the little Corn Islands and Pearl Cays, dependent on
Nicaragua.

South of Monkey Point the Eio Indio reaches the coast just above the delta
of the San Juan, which is the most copious of all the Xicaraguan rivers, but which
only partly belongs to the republic. Most of its basin is, in fact, comprised
within the neighbouring state of Costa Eiea, though its farthest headstream rises
in the great lacustrine depression west of the Xicaraguan main range. Although
the San Juan at present drains this depression to the Atlantic, there was a time

278

MEXICO, CENTRAL AMEEICA, WEST INTDIES.

when Lakes Nicaragua and Managua formed a continuous basin whicli sent its
overflow to the Pacific at the Gulf of Fonseca. From that epoch dates the Intro-
duction of the marine species, which have gradually adapted themselves to the
fresh waters of Lake Nicaragua.

Gil Gonzalez de Avila was assured by the natives that Lake Xolotlan (Man-
agua) had an emissary flowing directly to the "Gulf of Chorotega" (Fonseca),
but that the outflow was arrested by a lava stream from Momotombo. The
emissary is now represented by the Estero Real, while Managua sought another
Issue southwards to Lake Nicaragua, and thus became a tributary of the Atlantic.

A slight upheaval would still sufiice to convert Managua into a closed basin.

Fig. 121.— jMaeeabios Range and Lake Manaqtta.
Scale 1 : 1,400,000.

30 Jliles.

During the rains It feeds an emissary which at the Tipltapa salto has a picturesque
fall of 17 or 18 feet; but In the dry season there Is no continuous current, the
water slowly percolating through the sands and fissures of the rocks. A dry
space of over four miles separates the outflow from the estero of Panaloya, which,
although presenting the appearance of a river. Is merely a tranquil backwater
communicating with Lake Nicaragua.

Even during the rains Tipltapa is completely obstructed by reefs, and in 1836
Belcher had to transport a boat from one lake to the other. Hence It Is all the
more surprising that projectors of Interoceanic canals should represent Tipltapa as
the natural prolongation of a great transisthmian canal. Managua itself, although
over 400 square miles In extent, Is obstructed by shoals, which render it

EIVEES AND LAKES OF NICAEAGUA. 270

unnavigable by vessels drawing more than five or six feet of water. It stands at
a mean altitude of 140 feet above the sea.

Kicaragua. the Cocibolco of the natives, stands some 30 feet lower, or about 110
feet above sea-level. It has a mean area of 3,600 square miles ; but there are no
abysses as in the .Alpine lakes, the deepest cavity being scarcely 280 feet deep.
Some parts, especially near the San Juan outlet, are very shallow, and the general
level varies with the seasons little more than seven or eight feet. But there can
be no doubt that it formerly stood at a much higher level, for the islets south of
Zapatera are covered with scoriae containing freshwater shells, like those still
found on the neighbouring shores.

During the rains vast spaces round the lake are transformed to absolutely
impassable cienagas (quagmires), the waters from the surrounding heights pene-
trating to a great depth into the pasty soil and converting the plains into a sea of
mud. In the dry season the moisture evaporates, and the baked ground becomes
fissured without anywhere clothing itself with vegetation.

Nicaragua is fed by numerous affluents, some of which have acquired a certain
celebrity in connection with various schemes of interoceanic canalisation ; such
are the Eios Sapoa and de las Lajas in the isthmus of Rivas. But the most copious
tributary is the Eio Frio descending from the Costa Eica uplands, and washing
down vast quantities of volcanic sediment, which is gradually filling up the
southern part of the basin, and raising its bed above the surface, as the neighbour-
ing Solentiname archipelago has already been raised. Then the Eio Frio will
become a tributary, not of the lake, but of the San Juan, and this river, thus
charged with sedimentary matter, will form a chief obstacle to the proposed
interoceanic canal.

The San Juan, which escapes from the lake just below the mouth of the Frio,
flows in a very sluggish stream till it approaches the Castillo, a little fort on the
right bank 40 miles below the outlet. Here the river has forced a passage through
the schistose ridge connecting the Chontal mountains with the Costa Eican Cerros
de San Carlos. The rapids thus formed are followed some 12 miles lower down by
another series of erosions, the raudal de ilachuca, so named from the first Euro-
pean explorer of the San Juan. Farther on the mainstream is joined by the San
Carlos, which sends down from the Costa Eican uplands a volume almost equal to
that of the San Juan itself. A little above the delta follows the still more copious
Sarapiqui afiluent, which also descends from the Costa Eican mountains, but which
is so charged with alluvial matter that the idea of utilising the lower course of
the San Juan for the proposed canal has been abandoned.

In the delta itself the shifting branches of the mainstream are joined by
the Ei - Colorado, a third affluent from Costa Eica. About the middle of the
century nearly all the united waters of the San Juan basin entered the sea at
Graytown (San Juan del Norte), where the powerful current had excavated a
spacious harbour accessible to vessels of average draught. But most of this
current was deflected by the opening of the Jimenez, a branch of the San Juan,
which now joins the Colorado and whick, visually bears the same name. Other

280 ISIEXICO, CENTRAL AMERICA, WEST INDIES.

ctannels at times carried off all the rest, leaving the harbour half choked with
sands and almost cut off from communication with the river. Hence it has
been proposed to remove the jjort to the mouth of the Colorado ; but the bar,
with from 10 to 16 feet of water, varies frequently in depth, while the road-
stead is exposed to the dangerous north winds.*

Climate, Flora, Fauna.

Nicaragua Is divided by the nature of its soil and climate into three distinct
zones, an eastern, central, and western, each presenting special features in its
vegetation, inhabitants, social condition, and history.

The old schistose quartz and dolerite rocks of the plateaux and mountains on
the Atlantic slope are watered by copious rains and vapours brought by the north-
east trade winds. Hence these regions are covered with forests interrupted only
by river beds, swamps, and marshy savannas. Here are found all the varieties of
timber, cabinet and dye woods of the Honduras and South Mexican floras — cedars,
mahogany, gayac, besides the characteristic cortes {tccoma sidcro.x ijlon) , which is
hard as ebony and remarkable for the dazzling golden blossom with which it is
entirely clothed towards the end of March, after the fall of the green foliage.
Owing to the superabundance of moisture this region is necessarily unhealthj' and
sparsely inhabited, the few Indian or half-caste natives being chiefly confined to
narrow glades in the dense woodlands.

The range of the Atlantic rains and rank forest-growths is sharply limited by
the crest of the main Nicaraguan chain, so that it may rain for weeks or months
together at Libertad on the east slope, while Juigalj^a, on the Pacific side, enjoys
cloudless skies. The eastern rains last from May to January, with occasional
intervals of fine weather, especially in October and November.

Immediately beyond the forest region begins the central zone of savannas,
varied here and there by a giant ceiba, which affords a grateful shade to numerous
flocks and herds. Here the work of man in clearing the woodlands has been
aided by the occodoma, a species of ant, which spares the hei'bage and confines its
attacks to the sprouts and saplings growing on the verge of the forest. According
to Belt, these ants are veritable agriculturists. They cut the tender leaves in
squares, not for food, as was formerly supposed, but for manure to enrich the
underground plantations of fungi on which they chiefly live. The eciton hamata,
another species of ant in the same region, is placed by the same naturalist in the
first rank for its intelligence. When a brook is bridged by a single branch too
narrow to allow a horde to cross except in Indian file, a number of the insects
cluster on both sides of the natural causeway in such a way as to double or treble
its width.

Amongst the remarkable phenomena presented by the fauna of this upland

* Hydrology of the San Juan : — From the soiu-ce of the Rio San Rafael to Lake Managrua , 94 miles ;
Lake Managua, 28 miles ; Eio Tipitapa, 18 miles ; Lake Nicaragua, 88 miles ; Desaguadero (San Juan),
125 miles; total. 353 miles. Extent of the basin, including the Colorado, 16,000 square miles ; discharge
at the Lake Nicaragua outlet, 12,000 cubic feet ; at the fork of the delta, 25,000 cubic feet ; during the
floods, 62,000 cubic feet per second.

:'''''K<:?

i^?:^'^^^::::!:

INHABITANTS OF NICAEAGUA. 2S1

zone Belt also mentions the timrtcs c/iiroii, a species of butterfly, whicli moves in
coimtless multitudes over hill and dale, always in the direction of the south-east
towards the Mosquito Coast. They come, probably, from the remote Honduras or
Guatemalan forests, but never return.

The third zone comprises the lacustrine plains and Pacific seaboard, that is,
Nicaragua in the narrower sense — the " Paradise of Mohammed," in the language
of the Spanish conquerors — the privileged region on which the other two zones
naturally depend. It is at once the most fertile and healthiest region of the
republic, though exposed to the fierce westerly gales here known as jmpagayos,
from the Gulf of Papagayo, at the south-western extremity of Nicaragua. Here
the native populations were formerly crowded together in vast cities " four leagues
long," and the whole isthmus between the lakes and the sea was transformed to a
vast plantation. Hence the local flora chiefly consists of cultivated plants, and
others associated with them.

Inhabitants.

In Nicaragua the aborigines were exterminated, if not more ruthlessly, at all
events, to a greater extent than elsewhere in Central America. There being no
escape between the ocean and the lakes, the more numerous were the native com-
munities, the more wholesale were the massacres. Even iu east Nicaragua, near
the Caribbean Sea, many districts, formerlj^ covered with Indian villages, were
completely depopulated by the buccaneers. Thus between Monkey Point and the
Blewfields estuary, old cemeteries, heaj)s of potsherds, carved stones, and even
human effigies are found in a region which is now a wilderness. The Spanish
dwellings met along the course of the Mico are built with materials taken from
older Indian structures.

At present all the native populations of west Nicaragua are half-caste Ladinos.
The Mangues, Nagrandans, Dirians, and Orotinans of the north-west are collectively
grouped as Chorotegas, or Choroteganos, which is merely another form of Cholu-
teca, the collective name of the neighboui'ing Honduras Indians, to whom they are
related. Some ethnologists affiliate the Chorotegas to the Chiapanecs of east
Mexico, while others regard them as Mayas expelled from Cholula in pre-Aztec
times. They bore the name of Olmecs, like the jDredecessors of the Nahuas on
the Anahuac tableland, and probabl}' belonged to the same stock.

The final syllables of local names in various parts of Nicaragua cortainlj- indi-
cate the presence of different peoples at different epochs. The ending, galpa, is
Aztec, while rique denotes towns and heights on both sides of the Honduras fron-
tier. In the valley of the Rio Segovia the names of places end in // or guina, and
in Chontales ajM or ajm is most common.

Fully a century before the arrival of the Spaniards, the Nahuas had advanced
as conquerors through Guatemala, Salvador, and Honduras into Nicaragua. Here
they were known by the name of Niquii-an or Nicarao, which some etymologists
identify with the terra Nicaragua itself. Like their Mexican kinsmen they had
their city of Tola or Tula, and like them also practised the art of writing, carved

282

MEXICO, CENTEAL AMEEICA, ^VTIST INDIES.

statues, and erected temples scarcely inferior to those of ]\rexico and Yucatan.
The local topographic nomenclature shows that the Aztec nJe extended over
nearlj^ the whole of Nicaragua, although their language has ceased to be current even
in the isthmus of Rivas, where they at one time existed in multitudes. Spanish,
enriched by numerous Mexican expressions, has become the common speech of all.
In their stage-pieces, representing myths, historic events, or religious dramas, the
languao-e employed is a jargon called by Brintou the " Nuhuatl-Spanish dialect of

Fig. 122. — POPTJLATION or HONDUKAS AND NlCAEAGTJA.
Scale 1 : 7,000,000.

West of breenwuch

. 121 Miles.

Nicaragua." Most of these plays are accompanied by hciiks, or dances, and nearly
all the old musical instruments are still in use.

As in Mexico, the conquistadores endeavoured to destroy all memorials of the
old culture. In 1524 the missionary Bobadilla raised a huge pyre at Managua, on
which a bonfire was made of the religious and historical paintings, calendars,
maps, and all other Nahua and Chorotegan documents that he could lay his hands
on. The temples were razed to the ground, the idols overthrown, the cemeteries
desecrated ; nevertheless, down to the present century there still survived nume-
rous sculptured stones, especially in the islands of Lake Nicaragua, which the
Spaniards had ceased to visit after exterminating their inhabitants. In the
island of Momotombito alone Squier saw over fifty colossal basalt monoliths

IXHABTTA>TrS OF NICAEAGUA. 283

representing tuman figures and recalling the monstrous statues of Easter Island,
Polynesia.

Xumerous antiquities, such as carved stones and rock inscriptions, ■were also
found in the islands of Ceiba, Pensacola, and Zapatera. From the cemeteries of
Ometepe, where the Xahua population has preserved its primitive purity, Brans-
ford removed to the TTashington iluseum some eight hundred precious objects
especially huge sepulchral urns containing seated bodies still decked ■with their
ornaments. Another curious find made by Flint was the traces of thousands of
human feet left on the yellow ashes ejected by llasaya and afterwards covered by
subsequent eruptions.

The uplands between the lacustrine and Atlantic basins are inhabited by abori-
gines designated, like those of south-east ilexico, by the general name of Chontals,
that is, " barbarians." Before the conquest they were already held in contempt
by the civilised Xahuas of the plains ; nevertheless the ruins of cities and numerous
vestiges of buildings and causeways show that these so-called barbarians had made
considerable progress in the arts of civilisation. Gradually driven eastwards by
the Ladinos, the Chontals have largely merged with the Zumas (Sooms, or Simus),
the Popolacas or "Waiknas, that is, " Men," or else have altogether disappeared.
In many districts nothing is now seen except their graves, usually disposed in a
vast circle round the habitations.

The Chontals appear to be related to the Lencas of Honduras ; their language
is distinct both from Aztec and Maya, and they still number about 30,000, mostly
designated by the names of the rivers inhabited by them. Some, however, bear
distinct names, such as the Pantasmas of the upper Segovia, the Cucras following
lower down, the Carcas, TV^ulwas (Uluas), Lamans, Melchoras, Siquias, and the
Eamas of the Eio Mico, rudest of all the aborigines.

One of the tribes on the Eio Grande has assumed the title of Montezuma, which
for the populations of Mexico and Central America has become synonymous with
the old national independence. This tribe, however, seems more akin to the Carib
than to the Lenca stock. The word Carib itself, under the form of Carabisi, was
current in this region long before the arrival of the Caribs from St. Vincent.
"When speaking of the local idioms, Herrera mentions in the first place that of the
Carabisi ; they have been identified with the present Zumas and Waiknas.

On the other hand the so-called " Caribs " of the seaboard, more generally
called Moscos or Mosquitos, are reaUy Sambos, that is, half-caste Indians and
negroes, with a strain of European blood, due to the buccaneers who infested these
shores. Many of the natives in the provinces of Segovia and Matagalpa have fair
hair and blue eyes, which Belt attributes to the intermingling that took place in
the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries between the local Creoles and the French
and English corsairs. In 16S7 the 280 rovers commanded by Eavenau de Lussan,
having abandoned their vessels in the Gulf of Fonseca, crossed the continent, here
310 miles wide, and reached the Atlantic by the valley of the Segovia. Others
ascended the same river, which had become " the great highway from ocean to
ocean."

284 MEXICO, CENTEAi AMERICA, WEST INDIES.

Nearly all the whites who settled in the favoured isthmian regions belonged to
the vigorous Galician race, and the Gallego type may still be recognised, though
their Spanish patois contains but few words borrowed from the Galician dialect.
Non-Spanish immigrants, French, Italians, English, or North Americans, are very
few, and their arrival dates only from the middle of the present century. Yet
European artisans and labourers might easily adapt themselves to the climate,
especially in the Matagalpa province.

ToPOGRAPTIV.

Chinandcfja, the chief place in the north-west on the Honduras route, compi-ises
two distinct townships. El Viejo, on the slope of the mountain of like name, and
the new town a few miles to the south-east, to which the name of Chinaudega is
now exclusively applied. It was at one time a flourishing place, but it has lost
its trade since the encroachments of the land on its ports of Tempisque in the north
and Realcjo in the west. The present harbour of Corinto is sheltered by the island
of Cardon, and affords excellent anchorage in 22 feet of water at ebb and 40 at
flow. Corinto, which exports large quantities of dyewoods, is by far the busiest
seaport on the Paciiic side.

Leon, the chief citj' of the republic, lies between Lake Managua and the two
estuaries of Corinto and the Estero Real. At the time of the conquest its pre-
decessor, the Indian city of Subtiaba, contained a population of about 100,000.
But the first Spanish town of the district was founded in 1523, not on the plain
dominated eastwards by the Marrabios chain, but at Imhita, on the south-west side
of Lake Nicaragua. Owing to various disasters, the settlement was afterwards
removed to the vicinity of Subtiaba, capital of the Nagrandan nation. The new
city, seat of the administration, soon became a flourishing place, and the English
buccaneers who sacked it in 1680 carried off a vast amount of booty.

At the close of the eighteenth century, Leon and Subtiaba were said to have
a collective population of 50,000 ; but during the present century this number has
been greatly reduced, especially by wars and civil strife. In recent years Leon
has somewhat recovered its losses, and it is now connected by rail with Corinto
and the other isthmian towns. The neighbouring thermal waters are little fre-
quented, the whole region round about the city being still almost a wilderness.
During the rainy season Leon is exposed to frequent inundations, and the rudely
paved streets at times resemble mountain torrents, the water surging up to the
very eaves of the houses.

Managua, the present capital of the state, was till the middle of the century a
mere hamlet standing on the site of an Indian city some 00 feet above the level of
Lake Managua. In the neighbourhood are the little closed basins or tarns of
Tiscapa, Nejapa, Asososca, and Apoyo, old craters which, after bursting, were
flooded with a brackish water, differing in its saline properties according to the
nature of the surrounding soil and lavas. The neighbouring plains, formerly
under cotton, are now covered with coffee plantations.

Beyond Tipitapa and the intermittent stream bearing its name, stretch the

TOPOOBAPHY OF NICAEAGUA.

285

forests abounding in Brazil wood {ctvsalj>inia criqm). The black marshy lands
on the east side of the lake take the name oijica rales from the Jicaro, or calabash-
tree, which is here the prevailing species, and whose fruit supplies the natives
with nearly all their domestic utensils.

Granada, like Leon, is one of the oldest places in Nicaragua, having been
founded in 1523 by Francisco de Cordoba, near the Indian city of Salfeba (Jalfcba),
now one of its suburbs. The fame of its wealth and of the great fertility of the
district more than once attracted the attention of the corsairs, who, in 1665, and
again in 1670, ascended the San Juan and crossed Lake Nicaragua to sack and

Fig. 123.— Dexsity or the Population op Hont)ukas ajtd Nicakagua.
Scale 1 : 7,500,000.

Inliabitanfs per square mile.

n a

Under 2. 2 to 10.

10 to 20.

20 to 30.

30 to 10.
121 Milea.

40 to 60. 60 and upwards.

burn the city. Some fifteen years afterwards another band of English and French
buccaneers attacked it from the Pacific side ; but before its capture most of the
inhabitants had time to escape with their valuables to the archipelagoes of Lake
Nicaragua. It again suffered during the expedition of the filibuster, William
Walker, who set fire to it before abandoning it in 1856.

Granada lies on the scarp of the plateau on the north-west side of Lake
Nicaragua. Its buildings lay no claim to architectural beauty, and it owes its chief
importance to its schools, its trade and industries. Several landing-places follow
along the neighbouring shore ; but Charco Muerto is the only town possessing a

286 MEXICO, CENTEAL AMERICA, WEST INDIES.

good haven. It lies far to the south, and is sheltered by Zapatcra Island from
the trade winds.

The department of Granada is by far the most densely peopled in the state,
and here several important towns and communes are scattered over the fertile
plains. The most flourishing place is Masaija, which has a population of some
15,000 mestizoes. It stands north-west of Granada on the plateau commanded on
the west by the volcano of like name, not far from the lovely Nindiri, a true
"garden of the Hesperides." The surrounding farmers and peasantry are a
prosperous and industrious people, engaged in various crafts, such as weaving,
pottery, leather dressing, saddlery, and producing a thousand objects of local
consumption,

Jinotepe, south-west of Masaya, stands at an elevation of 2,520 feet amid
productive coffee plantations, while Nandaime, in a rich valley sloping towards
the bay of Charco Muerto, is surrounded by thriving cacao farms ; in the neigh-
bourhood is the famous Val Menier domain, the produce of which commands too
high a price to serve for the preparation of ordinary chocolate. About five miles
west of Nandaime are the ruins of Nandaime Viejo, supposed to have been des-
troyed by an earthquake. " "■

Eiras, standing at the narrowest part of the isthmus between Lake Nicaragua
and the Pacific, might claim to be regarded as the " metropolis " of the republic.
Here resided the Niquiran chief, Nicarao, who, according to most of the chroni-
clers, gave his name to the state ; here began the work of conversion and of con-
quest, and here Bobadilla baptized over 29,000 persons in the space of nine days.
Yet no Spanish settlement has been made in this favoured district, and the Indian
village of Nicarao-calli was not raised to the rank of a town till the year 1720,
greatly to the disgust of its rival, Granada. It long bore the name of " Nicaragua,"
but since the beginning of the present centiuy that of Rivas has prevailed. The
town is continued for miles through a highly-productive district by the scattered
villages of Obrage, Potosi, Bueiiayrc, while eastwards it descends to its port of San
Jorge on Lake Nicaragua.

On the Pacific coast the hamlets of Brito and San Juan del Stir {Concordia) are
names associated with the engineering projects for piercing the isthmus by a
navigable canal, and sooner or later the opening of this interoceanic highway will
confer on Brito the celebrity now enjoyed by Suez and Panama ; yet its harbour,
scarcely 70 acres in extent, is so exposed that it will have to be sheltered by costly
breakwaters. On the other hand the magnificent haven of Salinas Bay, common
to Nicaragua and Costa Hica, has no settlements on its shores, and is entirely
neglected except for the exploitation of the Bolanos salt-pans. The haven is an
almost circular basin, over 20 square miles in extent, sheltered from the surf and
ranging in depth from 40 to 80 feet. A cutting across an intervening sandy
isthmus might connect it with the equally safe bay of Santa Elena.

Compared with the western seaboard, the Atlantic coastlands might almost be
called uninhabited, all the civilised populations being concentrated on the uplands
near the waterparting between the lacustrine and Atlantic basins. Throughout

TOPOGBAPnY OF NICAEAGUA. 287

its whole extent the great valley of the Rio Segovia has only one town, Ocotal, capital
of the department of Segovia. The first Scgocia, founded in 1524, soon became a
flourishing place as a centre of the gold washings in all the surrounding valleys,
but it was destroyed in 1854 by Morgan, most famous of all the TTest Indian buc-
caneers. Rebuilt in a more protected position, it was again attacked by the ilos-
quitos corsairs, and had to be shifted a third and a fourth time to sites farther and
farther removed from the coast.

The present " Segovia," better known by the name of Ocotal, stands at an
altitude of over 2,000 feet on the left bank of the "Wanks (Coco), in a mineral dis-
trict abounding in gold, silver, copper, iron and tin. Further down, nothing is
met except a few Indian camping-grounds, one of which, Koom, near the estuary
at Cape Gracias-a-Dios, was formerly the residence of a Sambo " king."

The upper valley is somewhat more settled than that of the TYanks. Mata-
galpa, capital of the department of like name, has the advantage of easy access to
Lake Nicaragua, although its waters drain to the Atlantic. It is a thriAing place,
surrounded by rapidly-spreading coffee plantations.

Jinotega, on the opposite side of an intervening ridge, is also a prosperous town,
whose cultivated lands are steadily encroaching on the neighbouring pine forests.
The uplands of this region are also rich in the precious metals, and near the Indian
Tillage of Sehaco are seen numerous galleries, whence the natives drew large
quantities of gold. The auriferous sands of Frincipolca have also attracted many
immigrants from the Zamba territory.

Acoyapa, or San Sebaiiian, capital of the department of Chontales, stands on
the site of a formerly populous city, but is itself a mere village near the east shore
of Lake Nicaragua, where it possesses the port of San TJhaUo. In the same dis-
trict, but farther north at the foot of the Sierra Amerrique, stands the town of
Juigalpa — in Aztec, the "Great City" — which appears to have been a large centre
of population, to judge, at least, from the numerous ruins, the disinterred idols, and
still undeciphered inscriptions covering the surrounding rocks.

Liberiad, on the opposite or Atlantic side of the sierra, is the capital of a pro-
ductive mining district, but the excessive moisture renders its cKmate highly
insalubrious. Farther east the basin of the Blewfields is almost uninhabited as
far as the great lagoon of Uke name. Here stands the village of Bleirfields, a
former nest of pirates, and residence of the ilosqtutos chief, who takes the redun-
dant Anglo-Spanish title of "Rey-King." This potentate, formerly protected by
Great Britain, but now a pensioner of Nicaragua, administers all the villages of
the ilosquitos Coast for a space of about 150 miles between the Hueso and Rama
Rivers north and south.

Blewfields is also the centre of the Protestant missions and English schools
along the seaboard. It is surrounded by extensive banana and other plantations,
and since 1883 it has developed a considerable trade in cocoanuts, pineapples,
oranges, and other fruits with New Orleans.

The shores of the Pearl Lagoon as well as the neighbouring Corn Islands have
also become busy agricultural centres. Oysters abound along the coast lagoons.

288

MEXICO, CENTEAL AMERICA, WEST INDIES.

although the vast kitchen-middens of the surrounding forests contain none of these
bivalves. Potsherds and little human figures have been found in the refuse.

San Carlos, on the left bank of the San Juan where it escapes from the lake, is
a mere group of cabins, commanded by a ruined fort. But according to Belly,
this is the site of the future Constantinople of the American Bosj^horus. CaHtillo,
a little farther down, is the most important station between the lake and San Juan
del Norte, often called Greijtoim since the time of its occupation by the English.
This town, famous in the history of the wars between the Spaniards and bucca-

Fig. 121.— San Juan del Noete before the Consteuction of the Piee.

Scale 1 : 85,000.

0 'o 16
Feet.

Depths.

1<>(0 32
Feet.

32 Feet and
upw.xrds.

. 3,300 Yards.

neers, and long the scene of English and American rivalries, is the only seaport of
Nicaragua on the Atlantic side. Its little white wooden houses, with their smiling
garden plots, trailing plants, and shady palm-groves, are surrounded by swampy
tracts, backwaters and channels, alternately flooded and filled with mud, which should
make Greytown a hotbed of fever. Yet according to the testimony, not merely of
engineering speculators, but of disinterested travellers, it is really one of the least
insalubrious places along the whole seaboard. This is mainly due to the porous
nature of the volcanic matter washed down by the river, so that the surface waters

ECONOinC CONDITION OF NICAEAGUA. 289

rapidly disappear, carrying witli them all the impiirities of the soil, while the
exhalations are continually dissipated by the prevailing north-east trade winds.

The absence of a port at Greytown has obliged the promoters of the Xicara-
guan interoceanic canal to construct an artificial harbour on the north-west side
of the delta. A jetty projecting l,-440 yards seawards has enabled the stream to
sweep away the sands and gradually scour the channel to a depth of seven or eight
feet. A few structures on the beach mark the site of the future '' City of America,"
solemnly founded on January 1, 1S90. Xorth of this place, the best roadstead is
at Monkey Point between the Blewfields and Rama rivers, and it was here that
Bedford Pirn proposed to establish the Atlantic terminus of his transcontinental
railway, crossing the waterparting at a height of 760 feet. The promoters of the
canal are now connecting the Kama vallev with the harbour of San Juan. Thev
will thus have the advantage of two seaports with an intervening territory suitable
for European colonisation.

ECOXOMIC COXDITIOX OF XlCARAGVA.

Although sparsely peopled relatively to the vast spaces capable of settlement,
Nicaragua, like the sister states, is steadily increasing in population, which
advanced from nearly 13"2,000 in 1778 to 160,000 in 1813. Since then, despite
ci^il strife and invasions, progress has been even more rapid, the returns for 1846
showing 257,000, while the total population was estimated in 1890 at 375,000, or
nearly six to the square mile. The birth-rate is at present on an average double
that of the mortality.

The chief products of Nicaragua are agricultural, and these might be indefinitely
increased by bringing the vacant lands under tillage. Coffee, which forms the
staple of the export trade, comes almost exclusively from the province of Granada.
Next in importance is caoutchouc, collected, not from cultivated plants, but from
forest growths felled by the Caribs of the Atlantic coastlands. Bananas are yearly
becoming more abundant, thanks to the increasing demand in the United States.
The Xicaraguan planters also export cacao and sugar, but have almost ceased to
cultivate indigo, driven from the markets by the new chemical dyes.

A great resource of the republic are horned cattle, exported both to Costa Pica
and Honduras, ilany million head might be raised on the grassy plateaux of
Chontales, where the herds number at present scarcely more than 1,200,000.

Nicaragua also possesses considerable mineral wealth, though mining operations
are stiU mostly carried on in a primitive way. The best-worked mines are those of
Chontales, which have long been owned by English proprietors. The gold washings
of the streams flowing to the Atlantic are almost entirely in the hands of the
Indians and Sambos of the coastlands. Mining, such as it is, is almost the only
local industry, and all manufactured wares, except some coarse textiles and furni-
ture, are imported from Europe or the States. The chief products of the native
craftsmen are the earthenware of Somotillo, the hammocks of Subtiaba and Masaya,
and the calabashes of Rivas embelKshed with designs in relief.

Foreign trade is scarcely developed, amounting to scarcely more than £2 per

VOL. XVII. XI

290

MEXICO, CENTE.VL AMERICA, WEST INDIES.

head of the popuhitioii. The total exchanges amounted in 1890 to little over
£800,000, most of the trafBc heing with the United States and Great Britain.

The Nicaragua Canal.

But trade and the industries will be powerfully stimulated by the completion of
the interoceanic canal which has been so long projected. There can be no doubt
that the isthmus of Nicaragua is by far the most suitable region for a canal with
locks, the line to be followed being already indicated by the depression of Lake
Nicaragua and its emissary.

It has even been proposed to cut a navigable way free of locks, a scheme by

Fig. 125. — Peojected Inteeoceahic Canals aceoss NiCAiLiGUA.
Scale 1 : 5,200,000.

West oF OreenwrcK

Depfhs.

5 Fathoms
ami upwards.

Projected Canal.

0 to5
Fathoma.

Canalised Eiver. Railways opened and projected.

— ^— ^— ^— ^^^^_ 124 Miles.

which the great basin would be more than half emptied and many hundred thousand
acres of arable land reclaimed in the very heart of the country. But a cutting
over 220 miles long, under such a climate and without slave labour, would appear
to be beyond the power of modern industrial resources.

Projects of a more practical nature were spoken of so earlj' as the time of the
conquest, and even under the Spanish rule the buccaneer, Edwards David, con-
ceived the idea of a cutting between the lake and the Pacific. In 1780, the
engineer, Martin de la Bastide, proposed such a canal, and the next j-ear the
Madrid Government undertook a first survey of the ground with a view to its
construction.

THE NICARAGUA CANAL.

291

Immediately after the declaration of independence, the new republic decreed
the accomplishment of this work, but failed to supply the means for its execution.
After the discussion of various plans and counter- j)lans, a first scheme for a canal
terminating at San Juan del Sur (Concordia), on the Pacific, was propounded by
John Bailey in 1843.

Since that time various other schemes have followed, but without obtaining the
necessary capital. The failure, however, of the Panama undertaking has revived
the hopes of speculatoi s, who propose to carry the interoceanic route through the
Lake of Nicaragua. The works were, in fact, actually commenced at the end of
the year 1889, though not, as the financial world expected, at the expense of the
United States Government. The estimated cost is fixed at £15,000,000, and a
period of six years assigned for the completion of the work, which will have a total

126. — Lower San Juan Canal.

Scale 1 : iViri 000.

'0-
55

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length of 170 miles, of which 140 of open navigation through the lake, and not
more than 30 through ship canals. We are assured that vessels of the heaviest
draught will take only 30 hours to pass from ocean to ocean, and that the cutting
will admit 32 such vessels per day, or 11,680, of about 12,000,000 tons, a year.

The San Juan discharges a volume sufiiclent for hundreds of canals, but its
course is too shifting, its current too irregular and too charged with alluvia to
allow of its being canalised and adapted for the navigation of large vessels.
Hence it will be necessary to keep the canal quite distinct from the river through-
out its lower course, where it receives the great tributaries from Costa Rica. This
cutting, joining the river in its tranquil upper course, will be supplied with three
locks, each 550 feet long, by means of which the vessels will be brought to the
level of the lake, which stands over 110 feet above the Atlantic at low water. It

292

MEXICO, CEXTEAL AMEEICA, WEST INDIES.

will have a depth of 29 or 30 feet, and a miuimum breadth of 80 feet on its bed,
with sidings at the narrowest parts.

Above the upper lock, which will have to be separated by an embankment
from the mouth of the San Carlos, the ships will pass into the lake and traverse
it obliquely to a second canal, whence they will descend to the Pacific through an
artificial lake and the Rio Grande. But Lake Nicaragua itself will have to be
deepened in its south-eastern section, where its bed has been raised by the alluvial

Fig. 127. — Political Divisions of Nicaeaofa.
Scale 1 : 5,000,000.

Chinandega.

Cbontalea.

Leon.

Matagalpa.

Oianada.

Segovia.
: 94 Miles.

Mosquitia.

matter washed down by the Eio Frio from the Costa Rica highlands. The Pacific
Canal will be partly transformed by huge dykes to lakes at different levels
terminating at the port of Brito.

Such is the magnificent project first conceived by Thome de Gamoud in 1858,
then adopted with modifications by other engineers, especially Menocal, and now
in process of realisation. But will the estimated sum suffice for the construction

COSTA BTCA. 293

of sucli prodigious ■works, gigantic locks, large harbours in stormy seas, channels
maintained at a constant depth, despite the invasions of sedimentary matter brought
down by impetuous moimtain streams ? On the other hand, the annual increase of
the world's trade, and the necessity of opening a navigable highway by which
thousands of vessels will be spared a voyage of over 9,000 miles round Cape
Horn, render the execution of this gigantic work more and more probable.

But its successful completion is full of dangers for the republic itself. "WTien
the canal has become the great highway between Xew York and San Francisco,
and the all-powerful company finds itself mistress of the route with a vast army
of employes at its disposal, how can the feeble and sparsely-peopled state hope to
maintain its independence against the " manifest destinies " of the Xorth American
Anglo-Saxon nation ?

Admixistratiox.

In her political institutions, Nicaragua difFers little from the other Central
American states. By imiversal sufFrage are erected two chambers, a senate of
18 members for six years, and a lower house of 21 representatives for four
years. The president is also nominated for the same period, and is assisted by a
council of four ministers, or secretaries, for foreign affairs, finance, public works,
and the interior.

The standing army comprises a few hundred men, with 1,200 custom-house
officers, and a reserve of over 15,000 liable to serve in case of civil or foreign war.
The revenue, Hke that of the neighbouring states, is largely derived from tobacco,
spirits, and gxmpowder monopolies, supplemented by the customs and some minor
imposts. Most of the expenditure is absorbed by public works, instruction, postal
and telegraph services. Nicaragua, unlike Honduras, has hitherto escaped the
financial speculators, and the public debt amounted in 1890 to about £600,000, with
a mortgage on the 93 mUes of railway, altogether little more than one year's income.

In the Appendix are given the eight administrative divisions with their areas
and populations.

TI.— Costa PacA.

Next to Salvador, Costa Eica is the smallest of the Central American states in
extent, while its population is absolutely the smallest. It may be described as
little more than a narrow strip of territory forming a terrace or plateau between
the two oceans at a mean elevation of 3,500 feet, and intersected by a volcanic
range double that height. But it is occupied by a somewhat homogeneous people,
who present a certain originality amongst Hispano-Amcrican communities, and
whose progress has been less interrupted than that of the sister states by foreign
wars and civil strife.

In some respects, Costa Rica is the model republic of Central America, as well
as one of the most prosperous, not so much on account of its mineral wealth, as
might be supposed fi-om its name, as of its agricultural resources. This term

294

MEXICO, CENTRAL AATEEICA, WEST INDIES.

" Rich Coast," given formerly to the whole of the south-western shores of the
Caribbean Sea, that is, to the Gulf of Columbus taken in its widest sense, was
later restricted mainly to the district of Yeragua in Colombia, where gold had been
discovered. But the present Costa Rica, at first known as Nueva Cartage, was
found so little productive by its first white settlers, that, according to some writers,
the name of " Rich Coast " was retained by a sort of antiphrasis.

Like the other Central American republics, Costa Rica has scarcely ceased to

Fig 12S.— Gulf of ColitiIbus.
Scale 1 : 5,000,000.

We=c oF Cr

Depths.

0to50

Fathoms.

50 to 1.000
Fathoms.

I, Olio to 1,500
Fathoms.

1.500 Fathoms
and upwards.

, 124 Miles.

be troubled with frontier questions, which, especially with Nicaragua, have at
times led to sanguinary conflicts. The Nicoya and Guanacaste districts, at present
the most important region of the state on the Pacific side, formed at one time a
part of the province of Nicaragua, the natural limit between the two countries
being the Gulf of Nicoya. But during the first years of independence, political
discussions waxed so furious in Nicaragua, that those more peacefully-disposed

COSTA RICA.

295

districts petitioned the Central American Government to be annexed to Costa Rica
until order could be restored. But tbe arrangement has been maintained, and is
now officially confirmed by treaty between the conterminous states.

But in the San Juan basin on the Atlantic side, the conflict became more
serious ; here the ri\cr is a natural highway of trade between the two republics,
so that any frontier excluding Costa Rica from this outlet for her produce would
have deeply affected her interests. The treatj' of 1858, ratified in 1888 by the
arbitration of the United States president, definitely settled this question, assign-
ing to Costa Rica the right bank from the delta to within three miles of the

Tig. 129. — One of the Theee Chatees of Poas.

fortifications of Castillo ; then the line is deflected eight miles south and east of
this place, beyond which it follows all the windings of the river and of Lake
Nicaragua at a distance of two miles to the mouth of the Rio de la Flor, which
enters the Pacific a little north of Salinas Bay.

On the side of Colombia the southern frontier is clearly indicated by the long
promontory of Punta Burica j^rojecting into the Pacific, while on the north or
Atlantic coast, Costa Rica claims Chiriqui Bay and its islands, including the
Escudo de Veragua off the coast. On the other hand, Colombia claims not only
the whole of Chiriqui Bay, but even that of the Almirante as far as the Boca del
Drago. The question has been submitted to the arbitration of Spain ; but in such
matters diplomatic records are of less consequence than the wish of the jjeople.

296 MEXICO, CEXTEAL AMEEICA, WEST INDIES.

Physical Features.

Taken as a whole Costa Rica may be regarded as an elevated tableland domi-
nating tbe flooded Nicaraguan depression. Immediately to the south of this vast
basin, the hills rise from tier to tier to the crest of the igneous cordillera which
is disposed north-west and south-east. Within some 20 miles to the south of
the narrow zone between Salinas Bay and Lake Nicaragua, the Orosi volcano,
which still emits a few jets of vapour from its verdure-clad crater, rises to a
height of 8,700 feet.

Beyond it follows the almost isolated four-crested Riucon de la Yieja, and
still in the same south-easterly direction the Miravalles peak (4,720 feet),
crowned with an extinct forest-clad crater. Miravalles and its neighbour,
Tenorio, are continued south-eastwards by the Cerros de los Guatusos, which for
about GO miles are destitute of a single igneous cone. But towards the centre
of the isthmus the Poas volcano rises to a height of 8,700 feet, and terminates
in three craters, one flooded with a lake which drains through the Rio Angel to
the Sarapiqui, and another filled with hot water from which vajjours are still
occasionally emitted to a great height. In 1834 it was the scene of a violent
eruption ; but Barba, its eastern neighbour, has long been quiescent, its terminal
crater (9,000 feet) being also flooded, like so many others in this region.

Farther on stands Irazu, giant of the Costa Rican volcanoes, which rises to
the north of Cartago, and from whose summit a wide prospect is commanded of
both oceans, and of the whole of Costa Rica from the Orosi peak to Mount Rovalo.
Yet it slopes so gently that the traveller may reach its culminating point, a little
over 11,200 feet, mounted on a mule. The lower flanks are covered with maize,
tobacco, and other plantations, diversified with pasturage and terminating with
oak forests. The hamlet of Birris, highest inhabited sj)ot in the republic, stands
at an altitude of 9,400 feet.

Turialba (11,000 feet), last cone going eastwards, has greatly contributed by
its explosions to modify the general relief of the land. Since the eruf)tion of
18G6 it has never ceased to eject copious vapours, accompanied now and then with
some ashes. . Its name is said to be a corrupt form of the Latin film's (iJba,
" White Tower," though Thiol and Pittier have shown that the word is of Indian
origin.

Tlie Costa Rican igneous chain does not run parallel with the Pacific, but
trends in a slightly oblique direction to the general axis of this part of the penin-
sula, even developing a gentle curve with its convex side facing southwards
and its more lofty section disposed transversely towards the Atlantic. It appears
from Pittier's observations that the older cones began their eruptions early in
secondary times, when the range stood in the midst of the sea, running in the
same way as the insular volcanoes of the Hawaii archipelago. The former
existence of such an archipelago is shown hy the sedimentary matter now filling
the intervals between the igneous crests.

According to the same authority some of the Costa Rican cones have ejected

PHYSICAL FEATURES OF COSTA EICA,

297

no lavas during the historic period, although both Turialba and Irazu Have dis-
charged vast quantities of ashes, which, under the influence of the trade winds,
have been deposited on their south-west slopes.

The plateaux stretching south of the volcanic system, and eroded on both

>-3

sides by running waters, formerly contained lakes in their cavities. The Alajuela,
San Jose and Cartago depressions had also their lacustrine basins, which were
gradually emptied by the erosion of the encircling walls.

Earthquakes are very frequent, but are seldom violent, and the vibrations

298

MEXICO. CENTEAL AISIEBICA, WEST INDIES.

are rarely felt at any great distance from the base of the volcanoes. But at
the end of the year 1888 several severe shocks, coinciding with the discharges of
mud and water from Peas and Irazu, damaged the buildings of the neighbouring
towns and overthrew some villages. A comparative study of the local seismic
phenomena and of the rainfall during seventeen consecutive years has led Pittier
to the conclusion that the return of igneous activity and of underground dis-
turbances is a direct consequence of the tropical rains penetrating to the caver-
nous recesses under the volcanoes.

South of the igneous system the Costa Rican uplands are interrupted by the
valleys of the Rio Grande de Tarcoles flowing to the Pacific, and of the Eeven-

Fig. 131. — Plateau &yD Volcanoes of Costa Rica.

ScIp 1 : 1.200,000.

K^^T^T^^^'^^F^^^JTFI

; \

K^** 18 if ^^^ ' J5'* ^ \i)^-

r „ «

• )

-^"■^-j^y ^K \,

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84 iu

u^-" * ' g" ,.sar„jgc:JimPi„t.'f ■-,.,:. afe

West oF breenw en 6^ 0

, 18 Miles.

tazon descending to the Caribbean Sea. The sources of these streams are inter-
mingled about the Ochomogo Pass (1,100 feet), which, at a former geological
epoch, was flooded by one of the marine channels connecting the two oceans.
South of this depression stretches an almost unknown region of wooded uplands
some 8,000 square miles in extent, but apparently without any igneous cones.
According to the natives. Mount Herradura (Turubale.s), at the southern entrance
to the Gulf of Nicoya, has occasionally emitted some light vapours ; rumbling
sounds are even said to be heard at regular intervals in the interior of the moun-
tain, but these statements are doubted by Pittier, who denies that Herradura is a
volcano at all. It is connected by a lateral ridge with the Dota mountains, a
section of the main range traversing the isthmus midway between the two

PHYSICAL FEATURES OF COSTA RICA.

299

oceans. Above the ridge rise at intervals a number of lofty summits, such as
the Cerro Chiripo, in the Cabecar district, Mount Ujum (9,700 feet), Nemur,
Kamuk, or Pico Blanco (9,600), and lastly, Eovalo (7,000), close to the Colombian
frontier.

A striking resemblance in their general outline is presented by the two penin-
sular masses of Nicoya and the Golfo Dulce on the Pacific seaboard. Both consist

Fig. 132 —Gulf of Xicota.
Scale 1 : 'W.CiXl.

SS'io-

ViestoF Ljreen^vicH

84°-to-

Deptlis.

0 toS
Fathoms.

5 to 25

Fathoms.

25 to 50
Fathoms.

SCO Fathoms
and upwards.

12 Maes.

of a mountain range disposed parallel with the mainland, with which they are
connected by narrow strips of lowlands. The Punta Burica, at the Colombian
frontier, belongs to the same line of promontories, which is continued south of the
province of Panama by the island of Coiba, the large peninsula of Azuero and
the Pearl Islands.

These chains and detached insular or peninsular masses describe collectively a
regular curve of about 550 miles, which is perfectly concentric with the curve

300 MEXICO, CENTEAL A-NIEETCA, WEST INDIES.

presented by the mainland itself between Lake Nicaragua and the Gulf of Panama.
The highest crest of this outer Costa Eican coast-range appears to culminate
towards its southern extremity in a peak not more than '2,000 feet high.

ElVERS.

The strips of coastlands on both sides of the central uplands are too narrow
for the development of any large fluvial basins. Even the most copious streams,
the San Carlos and Sarapiqui, become merged in the San Juan before reaching the
Caribbean Sea. The Colorado, which, on the contrary, now receives nearly the
whole discharge of the San Juan, flows entirely in Costa Rican territory, where its
waters are intermingled by lateral channels with those of the Sarapiqui. From
the north-east slopes of the uplands, exposed to the moist trade winds, flows the
Parismina, or Reventazon, which has a much larger volume than might be supposed
from the length of its course. On the same side follow several other rios, such as
the Sicsola, and the Tilorio, or Changuinola, which Peralta identifies with the old
Rio de la EstreUa, famous in the local legends for its auriferous sands. The same
name of Estrella has also been given to another less copious stream, which flows
farther north near Cahuita Point, and where the alluvia are still washed for
gold.

On the drier Pacific slopes the watercourses are less copious in proportion to
their length. Nevertheless three of them bear the name of Rio Grande : the Rio
Grande de Terraba, which reaches the coast at the head of the Golfo Dulce ; the
Rio Grande de Pirris, which flows south of the mountains terminating in the
western headland of Herradura, and the Rio Grande de Tarcoles, which rises at
the Ochomogo Pass, and which, after its junction with the Tiribi, the more copious
of the two, enters the sea opposite the southern extremity of the Nicoya peninsula.
Farther north the Tempisque flows to the head of the Gulf of Nicoya after travers-
ing the low-lying isthmus which was formerly a marine channel between the
Nicoya peninsula and the mainland.

All these streams tend by their alluvia to raise the bed of the gulf ; but a more
potent cause is the south-east marine current which sweeps into the basin all the
organic refuse collected on the neighbouring coast.

The Gulf of Nicoya, so named from a chief whom the Spaniards converted
with 6,000 of his subjects, rivals the Bay of Naples, the Bosphorus, or the
Strait of Simonosaki in the rhj^thmical contour of its shores and encircling hills.
Its waters are studded with islands of all sizes, whose deep green forest vegetation
contrasts with the azure hue of the distant mountains. San Lucas, one of these
islands, resembling Capri in outline, is famous throughout Central America for
the legendary reports of the vast treasures here deposited by shipwrecked corsairs.
But nothing has ever been brought to light desjDite the numerous expeditions
equipped to discover these treasures.

The Golfo Dulce, that is, "Freshwater Gulf," is much deeper than Nicoya,
and entirely destitute of islands.

CLIMATE OF COSTA RICA.

801

CiJMATE, Flora, Fatxa.

Like Mexico and Guatemala, Costa Eica offers a vertical succession of the three
"hot," " temperate," and " cold" zones. But here the local climates and the
distribution of the vegetable species are endlessly modified by the varying condi-
tions of altitude, aspect, and general environment. In general the climate is
essentially oceanic, and well regulated by the winds prevailing on both seaboards.
At San Jose, the mean annual temperature exceeds 68" Fahr., rising gradually
to 78° towards the low-lying coastlands, and falling considerably towards the

Fig. 133.— Guu OF DcLCE.
Scale 1 : 950,000.

63"40' Vi sst op Greenwich

83" 10'

0 to25
Fathoms.

Depths.

25 Fathoms
and upwards.

12 Miles.

crests of the mountains. At an altitude of 9,000 feet Pittier observed films of
ice on the margin of the streams, and on the summit of Irazu he found the surface
covered with hoar-frost.

At the same elevation the temperature is lower on the Atlantic than on the
Pacific slope, but it is more oppressive, the atmosphere being more charged with
moisture from the prevailing trade winds. On the west side the seasons follow
very regularly, the rains falling almost exclusively from May to Xovember, whereas

302 MEXICO, CENTRAL AMERICA, WEST INDIES.

on the east side wet weather may be said to last throughout the year. The annual
rainfall rises to at least 130 inches in the Reventazon and Colorado basins.

Nevertheless the Costa Eican climate is one of the most salubrious in Central
America, both for natives and foreign settlers. Consumption is very rare, though
the uplands have at times been ravaged by cholera, smallpox, and other epidemics.
Fevers also prevail in the low-lying coast districts, while on the plateau strangers
are subject to rheumatism from the excessive moisture.

In general the flora resembles that of the other Central American regions,
though botanists have been struck by the contrasts often presented between the
Xicaraguan depressions and the Costa Rica uplands. Thus of the 100 ferns
collected by Levy in Nicaragua, only three or four are found in the 36 Costa Rican
varieties in Polakowsky's collection. The cactuses, also, which in many parts of
the Mexican plateau cover vast spaces, are scarcely represented at all on the San
Jose uplands. In the forests occur numerous Colombian forms, especiall)- several
false cinchonas, which might easily be replaced by the valuable medicinal species.
Tree-ferns grow to an altitude of nearly 7,000 feet, and the banana to about
6,000.

Notwithstanding the reckless destruction of timber in many districts, more
than half of the Atlantic slopes are still covered with primeval forests, containing
an amazing variety of forms. In a space of 100 square yards, more types are here
met than in 100 square miles in north Canada. The streams flow beneath avenues
of overhanging foliage bound together from bank to bank by wreaths of flowers
and festoons of trailing plants. A characteristic form in the clumps of trees dotted
over many of the savannas is a species of mimosa, from which the province of
Guanacnde takes its name. The widespreading branches of this tree are a favourite
resort of the monkey tribe. According to Pittier the Costa Rican flora comprises
altogether at least 2,200 species.

The fauna, also, is exceptionally rich compared with that of other tropical regions.
In general Brazilian and other southern types prevail over those of the northern
continent. But Costa Rica also possesses several indigenous species, such as a
howling monkey distinct from that of Guiana, a tapir {elasmognatJuis), somewhat
different from the Colombian species, besides several kinds of bats and vampires
dangerous to cattle, whose blood they suck. One migrating species appears sud-
denly on the plains of Pirris, south of Mount Herradura, and falls on the domestic
animals, poultry, cats, dogs, as well as horses and oxen. Although often regarded
as fables, the reports of vampires sucking the blood of human beings, lulling their
victims with their long wings, are by no means questioned by travellers and
naturalists who have visited Central America. "Whole villages have had to be
abandoned to escape their attacks, and the engineer. Brooks, one of the surveyors
of the Panama Canal, died from the bites of a vampire.

But the Costa Rican fauna reveals its marvellous wealth especially in the
feathered tribe. In 1885, the catalogue of the "U'ashington National Museum
already enumerated 692 species, distributed in 394 genera, and two years later, six
new species were discovered, altogether twice the number possessed by the whole

FAUNA OF COSTA lUCA. 303

of Eui'ope. The parrot and gallinaceous families are both represented by an
extraordinary number of different forms, as well asb}- the multitude of individuals
comprised in many of the groups.

In the reptile order, as manj' as 132 species have already been recorded, and
great discoveries still remain to be made on the marshy seaboard and in the
dense primeval woodlands. The surrounding marine waters also abound in animal
life, and the manatee, which has disappeared from most of the West Indian coast-
lands, still frequents the Costa Rican streams. Like Tehuantepec Bay, the Gulf of
Nicoya has its purple-yielding mm-ex, and like the Gulf of California, its pearl and
mother-of-pearl oysters.

Inhabitants.

In Costa Rica the aborigines have been almost entirely supplanted by a civi-
lised population of Spanish culture. The first European settlement, which, however,
was not permanent, was founded in 1-j24 by Hernandez de Cordova on the Gulf
of Nicoya. Badajoz, founded in 1540, on the opposite coast at the mouth of the
Sicsola, in the Talamanca territory, also disappeared, and in 1544 took place the
first conflict between the Indians of the plateau and the Spaniards in the neigh-
bourhood of the present Cartago.

In 1563 began the systematic conquest of the country by Vasquez de Coronado,
who secured a firm footing on the plateau, where nearly all the population of
Spanish speech is at present concentrated. Vasquez penetrated to within a short
distance of the Golfo Dulce, reducing the warlike Coto Indians, and afterwards
exploring the Talamanca territory on the eastern slope, the district about Almi-
rante Bay, the Guaymi country and the auriferous region of the Eio de la
Estrella.

At that time the aborigines must have numbered at least 60,000, the Talamancas
alone being estimated at 25,000, and the Indians of Coto at from 12,000 to 15,000.
In 1675, over 100 years after the conquest, there were stiU scarcely more than
500 Spanish settlers in the country, nearly all grouped round the two towns of
Cartago and Esparza on the 2:)lateau. The Indians employed on their plantations
were gradually reduced to a few hundreds, and the colony itself made so little
progress that even so late as 1718, there was not a single place of business on the
plateau, and all the traffic was in the hands of packmen.

During the seventeenth centurj' the seaboard was frequently attacked by the
corsairs, but the country was too poor to attract them to the plateau. Despite its
strategic importance Costa Eica, towards the end of the colonial regime, when it
formed a province of the Guatemalan viceroyalty, had only a population of 47,000,
mainly Mestizoes. The people are usually siDoken of as full-blood Spaniards,
mostly from Galicia ; but they are really Ladinos, assimilated to the white race
in speech, usages, and national sentiment. The negro element is very slight,
there having been onlj' 200 blacks in the province at the time of the official
abolition of slavery in 1824.

The hravos, or " wild " Indians, variouslj- estimated at from 3,500 to 6,000,

804 MEXICO, CENTRAL A^^EI{TCA, WEST INDIES.

were quite recently still living entirely aloof from the civilised populations. In
the forests of the northern slopes draining to Lake Nicaragua and the San Juan,
and especially in the Eio Frio basin, dwell the Guatusos, who at present visit the
market of San Jos^, and bring offerings to the Catholic priests, " brothers of the
sun." They were formerly said to have fair hair and blue eyes, which Gabb
attributed to contact with the English buccaneers. Others pretended that the

Tig. 134. — Gtiatuso Indian.

1 m w , A^

fugitives from the town of Esparza, sacked by the corsairs, hud merged in a
single nation with the Indians.

But all the Guatusos seen at San Carlos of Nicaragua, or at the markets of the
Costa Rican plateau, have black hair, a dark complexion, and prominent cheek-
bones, like the Nicaraguan Chontals, to whom the}' are probably related. They
are excellent husbandmen, cultivating their banana, cacao and other plantations with
great care. Nor are the Guatusos ferocious savages, as formerlj' asserted ; on the
contrary, most of them have been exterminated by the Nicaraguan and Costa
Ricau Latlinos engaged in collectiug rubber in the northern forests. According

IXHABITANTS OF COSTA RICA.

SOS

to Tliiel hundreds are still kept in a state of servitude in Nicaragua, where the
price of a Guatuso was receuth' fifty dollars.

The natives of the southern districts are generally grouped under the collective
name of Talamancas, although each tribe has its special designation. Such are

Fi?. ISS ToiryG Talajuncas Tn-bians.

r.—r -.-?,'> ^^-
1 V. v:, :/t1 I

','//' y/'r—r"/^ •■/;,

■.•}lf, »'■•'

./'/ ';;'7:'^;,';!.'ti

the Chirripos, the Cabecars, Viceitas, Bribri and Tiribies, who still decorate them-
selves with plumes, strings of teeth or pearl necklaces, and dwell in pakiiqiiis with
thatched roof reaching to the ground.

On the Pacific coast live other tribes, the Borucas or Bnmcas, the Terrebas and
others, who have given their names to the neighbouring villages. The Chirripos
and Cabecars near the Cartago district have already been baptised. The other

VOL. XVII. X

306 MEXICO, CENTRAL AMERICA, VTEST INDIES.

Talaraancas of the seaboard between Puerto Liraon and Almirante Bay appear to
have also been formerly converted, for many of their ceremonies are of Spanish
origin. But they still worship the sun and stars, the rocks and winds, the running
waters and the sea.

The Blancos, a people of Cabecar or Bribri origin, expose the bodies of their
dead on palm-stands one or two yards above the ground, and bury thera after
three years, when they are perfectly dry. Some food and precious objects are
at the same time placed in the grave.

In these graves have been found some remarkable little gold figures, which
attest the ancient civilisation of the natives, and their lamentable degradation
under their white rulers. Many of these artistic objects have unfortimately been
melted down and coined at the Costa Rican mint. The jadeites and other green
stones known by the Mexican name of chalchiltnifes come chiefly from Guanacaste
and the Nicoya peninsula. Objects of pre-Columbian culture, formerly supposed
to be rare in the northern provinces, are now found in thousands, especially about
the environs of Cartage, where stood the ancient city of Purapura.

Topography.

Since the middle of the present century the population of the formerly almost
uninhabited Guanacaste region has increased fourfold. Its vast savannas, where
millions of cattle might be raised ; its forests, abounding in valuable timber and
cabinet woods ; its gulf and harbours ; lastly, its convenient position between the
Nicaraguan peninsula and the Costa Rican plateau — give promise of a great future
for this hitherto neglected province. Its capital, Liberia, formerly Guanacaste,
lies at the south foot of the Orosi volcanoes towards the middle of the fertile
depression at the neck of the Nicoya peninsula.

In the interior of the peninsula are situated the populous towns of Santa Cruz
and Nicoija, the latter the larger of the two and formerly residence of the
friendly chief who welcomed the Spanish conquerors, and was baptised with all
his people. On the shores of the gulf are obtained both pearl and edible oysters,
said to be the best on the whole west coast of America.

Puntarenas [Punta Arenas, or "Sandy Point") stands on a tongue of sand at
the mouth of the little River Barranca, which has deposited vast quantities of
eruptive matter in the Gulf of Nicoya. The inlet is too shallow for large vessels,
which have to ride at anchor in the roadstead. Yet Puntarenas has since 1814
been the outlet for all the foreign trade of Costa Rica on the Pacific side.

Before that year the Pacific seaport of the province stood some six miles
farther soiith, near the thermal springs of La Caldera, between the Barranca and
Jesus-Maria estuaries. Before the opening of the railway, which hasits terminus
at Puntarenas, it was proposed to establish the port south of the Rio Grande, in the
picturesque bay of Tarcoles, at the foot of Mount Herradura. But the project was
never realised owing t^ the dangers of the bar and unhealthy climate of Tarcoles.
In the neighbourhood are some extremely thick beds of anthracite.

From Puntarenas the railway ascends the scarp of the plateau to Esparza

|||||||||j!i!iiiit''''":fn!!ffl!iiiiii::iiiiE!iKg

<S;i1 -)V, ■ i .'^ ?:,''i.'^^' ,' J , J' '1' ' K .lie,''; ,,\t '

a
z

308

MEXICO. CENTRAL AMERICA, WEST INDIES.

like the station of Chirripo, it failed to prosper owing to its isolation. The
so-called "city" of Santiago de Talamanca, founded on the banks of tte Sicsola,
was burnt in 1610 by the revolted Indians.

The constant reports of rich gold-fields in the vaUey of the Estrella (Chan-
guinola) rest on a mistake made by Alcedo in his famous JDiccionario Geograjico-
Hinforico de !as Iiidias Occidenfales. Alcedo had given to these mines of the
Estrella the name of Tisingal (Tinsigal, Tisiugal), which happens to be an abbre-
viated form of Tegucigalpa, as shown
by the corsair Ravenau de Lussan's
excursion to the Eio Segovia in Nica-
ragua.

This "gold coast," where no tra-
dition survives of a pretended town of
Estrella, attracted scarcely any settlers.
It was, in fact, rather avoided, owing
to its reefs and inhospitable shores.

Fig. 136. — PUEETO LiMON.
Scale 1 : 50,000.

iJepths.

fZZ3

Sandg exposed
at ebb.

0tol6
Feet.

16 to 32
Feet.

32 Feet and
upwards.

1,100 Yards.

Economic Condition of Costa Eic.\.

Although not so rapid as that of

other Spanish-American communities,

the material progress of Costa Rica has

at least been steady and regular. The

population advanced from 80,000 in

1844 to 120,500 in 1864, and to over

182,000 in 1883, and was estimated at

220,000 in 1890. The number of immigrants is still very small, and of the 4,672

returned in 1883, nearly 2,000 were from the conterminous states of Nicaragua

and Colombia.

In the trade of the world Costa Rica derives its importance almost exelusivelj'
from its coffee, which, in prosperous years, has been exported to the extent of
15,000 tons, chiefly to Great Britain.

Costa Rica also exports sugar, rubber, cacao, hides, and timber ; but in recent
years all these wares are exceeded in value by the bananas forwarded to the
United States, which in 1889 amounted to 40,000 tons, worth over £80,000.
The so-called quiqukque, that is, the taro of Polynesia (edible colocasia), is also
cultivated, in some districts even by Indians.

The planters on the uplands, directing their attention almost exclusively to
coffee-growing, do not produce sufficient supplies for the local demand, and are
consequently obliged to import farinaceous products from Chile. Even the live-
stock is insufficient for the wants of the people, despite the vast extent of their
grazing-grounds. Of sheep and goats there were scarcely more than 2,000, and of
horsef and horned cattle, 353,000 in 1888, when all the live-stock was valued at
not more than £80,000.

ECONOMIC CONDITION OF COSTA RICA.

309

But Costa Rica enjoys the advantage over Nicaragua, Guatemala, and Mexico
that about one-half of the agricultural population are everywhere landowners,
except in the province of Guanacaste. The territory which, even under the Spanish
rule, was almost exclusively cultivated by free labour, is, for the most part, divided
into small holdings, which give to the peasantry a direct interest in its improvement.
In 1886 there were enumerated altogether 57,639 such holdings {fincas), with a
total value of £7,760,000, but mortgaged to the extent of £1,600,000. Not more
than one-twentieth part of the whole land has yet been brought under cultivation.

Since the middle of the century trade increased fourfold, from about £400,000
to from £1,400,000 to £1,600,000, or in the proportion of from £6 to £8 per

Fig. 137. — Mlll foe HusKrua Coffee.

head of the population. Great Britain, the United States, France, and Germany,
in the order hei'e given, are the chief customers of Costa Rica. The great high-
way of the traffic is the railway h\ which the capital has been completely connected
with the seaport of Limonon the Atlantic side since the year 1890. The railway
company, besides government advances, has received a grant of many hundred
thousand acres of land on the condition of selling or renting it within a period of
twenty years. A portion of this vast domain has already been ceded to settlers,
either for tillage or stock-breeding.

Other railways are also projected, to connect Costa Rica with Nicaragua and
its future canal, and plans and estimates have been prepared for regulating the
discharge of the Rivers Frio, Sau Carlos, Sarapiqui, and Sucio, with a view to

310

MEXICO, CENTEAL AMERICA, WEST INDIES.

making tliem accessible to steamers. An embankment, forming part of the
Nicaragua Canal scheme, -would have the effect of raising the level of the Rio San
Carlos about 50 feet, thus rendering it na\'igable by vessels of heavy draught to
the foot of the mountain.

On the other hand, the interoceanic route between the ports of Chiriqui and
the Golfo Dulce, for which a concession was granted so far back as 1849, has not
even been begun, although the company received a guarantee of 244 square
leagues "with streams, rivers, mountains, and mines."

Fig. 138.— HioHWATS OF CoMinmiCATiON IN Costa Rica.
Scale 1 : 4,500,000.

Navigable Rivers.

Apart from a few minor details, the political institutions of the republic are
modelled on those of the other Hispano- American states. The legislative power is
exercised by a congress, whose members are elected for four years, one-half
retiring every two years. A president, also nominated for four years, and not re-
eligible, is charged with the executive functions. He chooses his own secretaries
of state, and appoints the provincial governors, the military commanders, and the
political chiefs of the cantons. The municipalities are elected by popular suffrage,
which is not universal, but restricted to all who are able to live " respectably."

The laws are administered by justices of the peace, cantonal alcaldes, provincial
tribunes and a court of appeal. Criminal cases are tried before juries, and capital
punishment is abolished as well as all degrading penalties. Freedom of worship.

ECONOMIC CONDITION OF COSTA ERA.

311

decreed in 1870, already existed dc facto, and tithes liad already beea abolished
soon after the declaration of independence. Convents and religious orders are
interdicted throughout the republic.

Public instruction had formerly been much neglected, and even in 1883 not
more than 12 per cent, of the population could read and WTite. But primary
instruction for both sexes is now obligatory and gratuitous, aud in 1886 as many
as 20,000 scholars were already attending the 260 public schools. Under the
Spanish rule, and dovm to 1830, Costa Eica had not a single printing-press ; there
are now over ten, and the number of letters forwarded through the post increased
from 600 in 1811 to nearly 3,000,000 in 1890.

Costa Rica was free of liabilities till 1871-2, when loans of £3,100,000

Fig. 139. — AjDHEfUTEiTivE Dmsioss OF CosiA Rica.
Scale 1 : 5,(»i.O>"0.

t*.--i;^.>3
Guaaacaste.

^rt

Alijuela.

Heredia.

San Jose.

t$$^

ilf

liii

Oomarca of Limon.

Cartflgo . Comarca of Pnntarenas.
134 Miles.

were raised on the security of the customs and railway debentui-es. In 1888 the
public debt was converted into a total amount of £2,000,000 at 5 per cent., and
taken over by the Costa Rica Railway Company. The yearly budget is generally
balanced with an income and expenditure of from £600,000 to £800,000. Most
of the revenue is derived from the customs and spirits and tobacco monopolies.
The army comprises a standing corps of 1,000 men.

Costa Rica is divided into five administrative provinces and two comarcas, with
areas and populations, tabulated in the Appendix.

CHAPTER V

PANAMA.

[LTHOUGH politicall}' forming an integral part of Colombia, tte
pro^ance of Panama belongs geographically to Central America,
of whicb it is even a typical section in its serpentine isthmian
contours. The political frontier towards Costa Rica has not yet
been definitely settled ; but in estimating the extent of the pro-
vince, the nearly straight line may be provisionally accepted which is traced on
the Colombian maps from the extremity of Burica Point in the Pacific to the
western headland of the Boca del Drago (" Dragon's Mouth "), at the entrance of
Almirante Bay, in the Caribbean Sea. The greater part of " ducal " Yeragua
granted to Luiz Colon is thus included in Colombia, while " roj-al " Veragua,
stretching thence northwards, is assigned to Costa Rica.

The administrative limit s of the province towards South America pass far to
the north of the natural boundary, which is here so clearly indicated, between the
isthmian region and the southern continent. Within these somewhat conventional
frontiers the province of Panama comprises an area of about 32,000 square miles,
with a population estimated at 300,000.

Physical Fe.\tures.

The main Costa Rican range is continued through Panama by mountains of
great elevation. Picacho, near the frontier, over 7,000 feet, is greatly exceeded
by its eastern neighbour, the extinct Chiriqui volcano, a perfect cone, nearly
11,400 feet high. At its eastern base the range is crossed by a pass which falls
to 3,600 feet, and still farther east by another about 4,000 feet, mentioned by the
traveller Morel. The crest rising between these two depressions to a height of
nearly 7,000 feet .takes the name of Cerro de Horqueta, that Is, "Mountain of the
Pass." Wheelwright and other explorers speak of even still less elevated saddle-
backs, falling even to less than 200 feet ; but their statements are not supported
by accurate surveys.

Farther on the cordillera maintains a normal altitude of over 8,000 feet, and
here runs much nearer to the northern or Atlantic than to the Pacific coast,
where space is left for the vast plain of David. To this corresponds on the
opposite side the extensive inlet of the Chiriqui " lagoon," which gives its name

PHYSICAL FEATUEES OF PANAMA. 313

to this section of the cordillcra. Farther on it takes the name of the Vcragiia
range, which begins on the west side with the superb Mount Santiago (6,300
feet), followed by several others over 4,000 feet high.

In this region, the whole of the isthmus, from ocean to ocean, is filled with
mountains or hills, with spurs projecting northwards to the Atlantic coast, and
penetrating southwards through the massive peninsula of Las Palmas, west of
Montijo Bay, far into the Pacific. But the quadrangular peninsula of Azuero,
which limits the Gulf of Panama on the south-west, is physically distinct from
the Veragua range, from which it is separated by depressions and grassy rising
grounds about 509 feet high, culminating south-westwards in a headland exceeding
3,000 feet. The Azuero peninsula, in fact, forms part of an almost completely
submerged chain, which is disposed parallel with the winding isthmian Cordilleras,
and which embraces the Nicoya peninsula, with those of the Golfo Dulce and
Burica, besides Coiba Island and the Pearl Archipelago in Panama Bay.

North-west of the Veragua range the orographic system becomes very
irregular in direction and altitude, being broken into several fragments, whose
original trend it is now difficult to determine. Capira, the culminating mass
(5,000 feet), lies beyond the line of the main axis, its escarpments plunging
southwards into Panama Bay, and even projecting seawards in the little Ccrro
Chame. The main axis itself appears to be continued in the Ahoga-Yeguas
hills, which are crossed by a pass only 380 feet high, and which nowhere exceed
700 feet. Farther on is opened the still lower Culebra Pass (290 feet), which is
distant about 34 miles in a straight line from both oceans.

The geological constitution of the isthmian heights shows that their various
sections belong to no single homogeneous system. The Veragua range consists
mainly of granites and sj-enites, gneiss and schists, whereas the Panama hills are
chiefly weathered dolerites and trachites, " which may be cut with a spade like
cheese." But these igneous heights nowhere present the aspect of erupted cones.
Hence the eruptions must have taken place at a time when the waters of the two
oceans communicated through channels. The limestone banks occurring in cer-
tain parts of the isthmus are also filled wilh fossils, dating, probablj', from eurly
tertiary times, and mostly resembling the forms still living in the neighbouring
waters. The channel, in fact, is scarcely completely closed, though the attempts
of engineers to reopen it have hitherto failed. The depression, however, is traversed
by an interoceanic road and railway.

Beyond the Culobrasill the mountains again gradually rise eastwards, the Maria
Enriquez (1,340 feet) being followed by those of Pacora, which are nearly 1,700
feet high. Then in the neighbourhood of San Bias Bay is developed a coast-
range disposed west and east along the Atlantic, and in one of its crests just east
of Puerto Belo attaining an elevation of over 3,000 feet. The system is continued by
a steep ridge from 500 to 2,700 feet, which here forms the waterpartiug between
the two oceans at the very narrowest part of the isthmus. The distance between
San Bias Bay and the head of the Pacific tidal wave in the Rio Bayano scarcely
exceeds 17 miles. But the crest where the Bavauo has its source is over 1,000

814

MEXICO, CENTEAL AMEfilOA, WEST INDIES.

feet hiwh, so that for au interoceanic canal it \vould have to be pierced by a
tunnel at least seven miles long and high enough to admit the taUest vessels.

The San Bias (Chepo) cordillera, consisting of gneiss and metamorphic schists,
is continued under various names as the Atlantic coast-range as far as the entrance
to Uraba Bay, where the isthmus takes the name of Darien. The hilly mass of
Gandi (3,000 feet) and Turganti farther on mark the point vs^here the system bends
round to the south along the west side of the Eio Atrato. At the Tihule Pass it
falls as low as 420 feet, and this site has also been proposed for an interoceanic
canal, which would replace an ancient marine strait along the valleys of the Eio
Atrato in the east and Rio Tuj^ra in the west.

Farther on the cordillera is connected by lateral ridges with the Baudo range,
which runs close to the Pacific coast in the direction from north to south for a

Fig. no. — COUESE OF THE RiVEE CbAGBES.

From a Spanisli Map of the fii-it half of the Eighteenth Centnry.

distance of about 124 miles. The sierra culminates in the Baudo peak (6,000 feet),
but it is interrupted by broad depressions, one of which, the Cupica Pass, is only
1,000 feet high. The last rising grounds of the plateau die out north of the San
Juan estuary.

Rivers, B.\ys, Islands.

Apart from the Atrato, only a few lateral affluents of which are comprised in
the province of Panama, the isthmus has no large rivers, or, at least, none that
send down a large volume except after heavj^ rains. Many have a considerable
course owing to the disposition of their valleys, which rim parallel with, and not
transversely to, the seaboard. But their basins are too narrow to collect any great
quantity of sui-face waters.

Even the Chagres, a term which, according to Pinart, means " Great River "
in the Muoi language, is in ordinary times an insignificant tributary of the Carib-
bean Sea. It rises about the centre of the isthmus of Panama, and flows first in

:^yi^^^'...^^^7^^-^j^^^^^^^y^^

»#••>»

EIVEES OF PANAMA.

315

the direction of the south-west parallel with the shores of

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